Reason to Care

By Chris Holmes

irport terminals are ideal places for interviewing strangers. Lots of down time, lots of isolation, lots of staring at nothing. Cell phones preoccupy most folks here at Minneapolis/St. Paul International, but the empty faces suggest a lack of authentic engagement. As incredible as electronic devices can be, they can’t replace human interaction. Most people would welcome a random conversation if I initiated one.

I know this because that’s what I’m doing all summer: interviewing strangers, more than 250 of them, across all 48 contiguous states. And almost every one of them wants to talk.

I am on a mission to find the root causes of perceived academic apathy among teenagers, and to ask what schools might do to minimize amotivation and increase students’ autonomous motivation. In spite of considerable advancements in data-driven instructional change, recent scientific understanding of adolescent brain development, and implementation of social-emotional and trauma-informed programs, teenagers appear to remain academically disengaged and unmotivated in school. And according to the most recent Gallup poll on student engagement, their disinterest and detachment is worsening. From most adults’ perspectives – including those of many teachers – high school students appear apathetic and amotivated.

I disagree.

Student Voice

My objective with this project is to elicit student voice – largely absent in the frantic race to solve public education’s problems – then inject it into the conversation. No business would successfully operate without intimate knowledge of their customers’ perspectives, so why do schools choose to ignore their students’ perspectives?

In addition to teenagers, I also interview a smattering of adults along the way, hoping they might provide some context, some insight about the relationship between high school experiences and adult outcomes.

About three weeks into the project, I’m at the airport scanning the terminal for potential subjects. It’s mid-June, the peak of summer vacation travel, and people are everywhere. It would be easy to strike up a conversation, but I approach no one this time. I need a break. I’m not physically tired, but mentally and emotionally tired.

In planning this project, I knew that many kids would open up to me, tell me the unfiltered truth about their adolescence, their high school and their motivation (or lack thereof). Teenagers crave someone to listen; not to instruct or advise, but just to listen. As a high school teacher for nearly 20 years, I have learned to keep students’ emotional unloads in perspective, approaching them as opportunities to potentially plant a seed, spark a thought, inspire an action. Ultimately, that’s what I hope this journey accomplishes – seeds, thoughts, actions – albeit on somewhat of a larger scale.

Kids are talking, I am listening and thoughts are forming. I anticipated all of this.

Adult Voice

I did not anticipate how the conversations with adults would affect me, and I find myself drawn to them more and more each day. In fact, as I observe people in the airport terminal, I am more curious about the adults than I am about the teenagers. Adolescents have more time; they seem more malleable, more optimistic. Adults, at least most of those with whom I have interacted, seem uninspired, regretful and exhausted.

• A retired executive forced into retirement: “My wife died seven years ago. My sister and I take care of our 97-year-old mother who has dementia.”
• A middle-aged woman working in a North Dakota gas station: “I dropped out. Got pregnant at 16, but that’s not why I quit school. Teachers said I was stupid, and I believed ‘em. Still do.”
• Two truck drivers at a Wisconsin bar, reminiscing over missed opportunities: “Ya do what’cha gotta do, Jim.” “Yup. Cycle of life, Pat. That’s what it is. Cycle of life.” “Exactly.”
• A wealthy, 51-year-old attorney from Missouri who feels unfulfilled: “I thought success would make me happy, but I just feel lost, like I have no real purpose.”
• A 28-year-old Georgia waitress who admits that she’s unhappy: “I want out. Wanna leave the past behind. We all got that one thing that we just kinda run from.”

I scan the airport terminal looking at the adults, wondering about their lives, knowing that something happened in adolescence – probably in school – that altered their life trajectories. I find myself wanting their stories as much as I want the teenagers’ stories. I did not anticipate this. I did not expect to be so fascinated, so moved, so tired.

A friend distracts me with a text, asking what I have learned so far from my days on the road. I give an answer related to teenagers, but I realize there is more after replying, after carefully studying the stares in the airport. And this is it: We tend to categorize teenagers and adults into two distinct groups with different thoughts and objectives, fears and feelings.

I’m not so sure that is an accurate assessment.

Not So Different

What my interviews reveal is awareness of the human condition, and it is practically identical for both teenagers and adults. We all desire some control over our lives, some feeling of success, someone to love and someone to love us back. As children transition into adolescence, these desires are as real to them as they are to you and me. Yet high school, from a curricular standpoint, ignores this similarity, expecting teenagers to perform cognitively as adults without providing the information, tools and support for them to manage the non-cognitive aspects of life that are available to adults.

Stroll over to the self-help section of a Barnes & Noble and you’ll see literally hundreds of books on exploring, understanding and maximizing the “self.” It is a billion-dollar industry. But what resources are given to students in high school to academically address development of the “self?” What classes teach this?

According to self-determination theory, the world’s leading concept on volitional behavior, intrinsic motivation sprouts from three key components: autonomy, competence and relatedness. In his New York Times bestselling business book, “Drive,” Daniel Pink focuses on autonomy, mastery and purpose as the keys to intrinsic motivation. In positive psychology, researchers claim that subjective happiness stems from positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. The similarities are unmistakable in academic research, in business practice and in what complete strangers share with a teacher roaming the countryside asking questions.

Teenagers are not apathetic. Even if they say, “I don’t care,” they care. What they’re really saying is, “You haven’t given me sufficient reason to care.” Adults are no different; we want sufficient reason to care. What all of us care about – from high school seniors to senior citizens – is this journey: knowing ourselves, regulating ourselves, pushing ourselves, loving ourselves and having people love us back.

We need to give high school students sufficient reason to care. We need to teach the science of human learning and well-being. They may care more about this than anything.