Sad but true indicator of low achievement
By low achievement, I mostly mean the person not achieving as well as they could otherwise do in qualifications - academic, vocational or otherwise.
I'm not claiming this is a correlation due to cause and effect or association with some 3rd factor (although I have my suspicions). What I am saying is that I have noticed that there are two attitudes/ behaviours that I have noticed are very often present in student who "underperform" compared to expectations based on midyis tests and all the other battery of tools schools get given to set targets. These behaviours have always been absent in student who have achieved well compared to individual targets.
1. Derision when encountering a new word in their own language, however it is presented.
2. Derision when being shown something difficult or challenging. Often with ridiculing anyone who makes the attempt to learn/ do the task.
This seems to be almost independent of "ability". I have seen "non-deriders" with low "IQ" scores and a lot stacked against them in their personal life do much better than the statistics suggest should be expected of them in various skills and qualifications. I have seen more able than average "deriders" underperform considerably, despite comfortable family life and considerable support and "extra miles" gone by their teachers.
I'm not offering a solution. I've been trying to help students for years, and this seems to be the thing I can't make any headway with at all. I'm just offering it as an observation.
I'm not claiming this is a correlation due to cause and effect or association with some 3rd factor (although I have my suspicions). What I am saying is that I have noticed that there are two attitudes/ behaviours that I have noticed are very often present in student who "underperform" compared to expectations based on midyis tests and all the other battery of tools schools get given to set targets. These behaviours have always been absent in student who have achieved well compared to individual targets.
1. Derision when encountering a new word in their own language, however it is presented.
2. Derision when being shown something difficult or challenging. Often with ridiculing anyone who makes the attempt to learn/ do the task.
This seems to be almost independent of "ability". I have seen "non-deriders" with low "IQ" scores and a lot stacked against them in their personal life do much better than the statistics suggest should be expected of them in various skills and qualifications. I have seen more able than average "deriders" underperform considerably, despite comfortable family life and considerable support and "extra miles" gone by their teachers.
I'm not offering a solution. I've been trying to help students for years, and this seems to be the thing I can't make any headway with at all. I'm just offering it as an observation.