One must find a sliver of amusement when pondering the state of our education system and the youth which it is intended to serve. The irony is comical to me, honestly. Our youth attend school within a system that most would believe exists to inform and facilitate in their development. Yielding society well learned and adjusted individuals. However, our young scholars face a multitude of challenges daily. Challenges that impede progression socially, economically, emotionally, and educationally.
These challenges in many cases have become the focus within our education system. Our system has placed an emphasis on our scholars' inabilities rather than their strengths in most cases. It is this fact which I find full of irony and comedic sadness. The expectation is positive progression and success, while highlighting negative attributes and behaviors. We learn in Shannon Renkly’s Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit Oriented Schools to Asset Based Models: Why Leaders Need to Promote an Asset Orientation in our Schools this practice is known as the deficit model.
Renkly points out the deficit model works well in a variety of systems to include business. Agreeing with that point, Renkly also informs one system the deficit model does not work well in is education. We can not expect positive outcomes in our education system if it is focused on negatives. In my opinion the deficit model in education fosters negative experiences for students. While promoting maladaptive mindsets within the students it is intended to serve. Ultimately increasing participation in other systems of oppression to include incarceration and social assistance programing.
If our education system focused on the talents and natural abilities of our students. We would see drastically different outcomes. First, student relationships with education and the adults within the education system would be strengthened. Secondly, students would be more likely to engage in educational courses and work. Lastly, an increased attention to our students' positive attributes and resolution of the challenges they face daily will allow a student the ability to focus and care to learn. As their confidence and educational stamina are elevated, engagement increases and learning can occur. To say a student is not motivated to learn, is an excuse for those whose charge is to educate.
Students often are unmotivated because their experience(s) within education have been trauma filled. Coupled with a feeling of discouragement and failure, many students may feel hopeless instead of hopeful when the thought of education is presented to them. This is aligned with the asset based model which has many intrinsic benefits for the student, faculty, family, and community within the student’s life.
Gamble! You’re not wrong about the irony. We say school is built to help kids grow, then spend half the time pointing out what is “wrong” with them. That feels like trying to grow a plant by criticizing it for not being taller.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how you broke down the deficit model. It makes sense that what works in business does not automatically work in education. Kids are not quarterly reports. If we focus only on gaps and failures, we should not be shocked when students start to see themselves that way too.
Your point about motivation really stood out. Calling students unmotivated can be an easy out. Sometimes it is not that they do not care. It is that their experience with school has taught them that trying equals failing. Shifting to an asset based mindset does not ignore challenges. It just starts with strengths. And honestly, most of us do better when someone notices what we are good at instead of what we lack.
If we want hopeful students, we probably have to build hopeful systems. Funny how that works.
Hey Gamble! First, I want to comment on your writing style for these blogs. I really enjoy reading them because you write with a lot of charisma that makes it very easy to follow what you are saying and agree with you. I totally agree with you that stating a student as unmotivated is an excuse. I can't believe how much blame I have already heard on students for their "lack of motivation" from teachers already in my first year as a teacher, ESPECIALLY given that I work in an elementary school. It's just so irresponsible because children yearn to have positive experiences with adults which is all what the asset based model is about. This is why I try extremely hard to create a positive relationship with all of my students because this could be a huge determinant for a student's motivation. I think that educators who do not address the root causes of student motivation should not be in this field.
ReplyDeleteGamble, really enjoyed reading this blog post. I thought your point about how the school system can build trauma was really on-point. Teaching 7th grade, so many of my students have already made judgements on what type of students or even people they are. My fellow teachers and I get asked, "Am I a bad kid?" by students, which is such a testament to how schools have already made 12 year olds feel about themselves.
ReplyDeleteGamble! I really appreciated reading your post. The connection you made between trauma, discouragement, and disengagement is powerful. If school has repeatedly felt like a place of failure, it makes sense that students would protect themselves by checking out. An asset-based approach created conditions where high expectations can actually be met. Side note, I love the pictures you chose!
ReplyDeleteHi Gamble,
ReplyDeleteYour opening really struck me. the irony you describe about a system meant to develop young people while simultaneously centering their “inabilities” is powerful. Framing it as “comedic sadness” captures that tension so well and really made me reflect on how often schools default to highlighting deficits instead of growth. Also your statement that calling a student “unmotivated” can become an excuse for educators really stood out to me. It challenges us to consider how disengagement is often rooted in, discouragement, or even repeated failure. Shifting toward an asset-based model feels not only more equitable, but more humanizing. Thank you for such a thought-provoking reflection!
Your point about students being labeled “unmotivated” was really strong. It shifts the responsibility back to the system instead of assuming the student just doesn’t care. The idea that past negative school experiences can create discouragement makes a lot of sense and connects well to the asset-based model. When schools build confidence and relationships first, engagement probably follows instead of having to be forced.
ReplyDeleteYour astute points really resonate with the Precious Knowledge documentary for me -- what happened to those young people when they were given the opportunity to see themselves through that asset lens was so powerful.
ReplyDeleteGamble, yes to everything you’ve written! Your statement, “We cannot expect positive outcomes in our education system if it is focused on negatives,” truly captures the heart of this entire conversation. It raises an important question: at what point do we, as a society, decide to change how we view our systems and commit to being proactive rather than reactive? As you mentioned, many children are traumatized by their educational experiences. That trauma does not simply disappear—it often follows them into adulthood, where it can be unintentionally passed down to the next generation. As a result, the divide between families and schools continues to grow, and the cycle of deficit thinking within education persists. Breaking that cycle requires intentional shifts in both mindset and practice.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, yes! The generational education trauma is sooooo persistent! I have students who come into Pre-K with the idea that school is hard, they're going to be bad at it, and their parents are shocked when I have something good to say about their child. Both you and Gamble have great points about how the system kicks down so many kids before they have the chance to even start to climb.
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