No Student is Unmotivated

Teachers and parents frequently complain that a child is “unmotivated.” In actuality, every student is motivated but perhaps not in a direction that favors academic achievement. The Reiss Motivation Profile? (RMP) assesses six motivational reasons for poor school performance. Let’s consider a third reason.

The RMP Honor scale assesses the basic desire for upright character. Students with a weak desire for Honor are motivated by self-interest to a much greater extent than are students with an average or strong need for Honor.

Students with a weak desire for Honor are expedient. They generally are concerned with what is best for them, not what may be best for anyone else. These students also are opportunistic. That is, they are likely to renege on a commitment if they stand to benefit personally from a new opportunity.

Students with a weak need for Honor shirk their academic responsibilities when they are not interested in a subject, are otherwise busy, or when they think they will not be caught. They may lie about missing homework, submit plagiarized papers, and cheat on tests. Thus, these students underachieve because they focus their efforts on avoiding boring schoolwork rather than on completing all required assignments and studying for all scheduled tests.

These students rarely accept responsibility when they are caught breaking the rules, often blaming others for their misbehavior. For example, they may blame their parents if they are late to school; they may blame a crowded hallway for their tardiness to class; and they may blame another student for instigating an argument. When these students are suspended from school for violations of the disciplinary policy, the missed instructional time is likely to have a negative impact on their academic performance.

Students with a weak desire for Honor are not “unmotivated.” Rather, they are motivated to act out of self-interest – to shirk academic responsibilities they dislike and to break rules they find inconvenient. The RMP not only assesses this intrinsic motive but also suggests effective strategies for managing these students.? To learn more, visit www.reissmotivationprofile.com .?

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