John Orlando's 'Is Praise Undermining Student Motivation?'

In John Orlando’s “Is Praise Undermining Student Motivation?”, he makes the claim that “students are becoming dependent on praise because it is wrapped up with their self-esteem. They start thinking that the goal of school is praise, or grades, rather than learning.” I have seen evidence supporting this claim throughout the entirety of my years spent in school. From being pushed by my parents and teachers to obtain and maintain an all-A report card, watching students being punished or excluded from activities for an insufficient GPA, being accepted into prestigious organizations that require you to maintain an exceptional GPA, to even being told by my elders that if I didn’t receive good grades I would never be accepted into a good college- these are the various situations that student’s in today 's society grow up surrounded by, leading to an extra emphasis on the importance of grades rather than actually learning.
As a senior in high school, looking back on the past eleven years I have continuously been pushed by both my parents as well as …show more content…
Colleges denying students attendance to their universities due to low grades is yet another example of missed opportunities for learning due to the emphasis on praise. Attending college is ultimately the overall goal I have when I graduate from highschool, so I have taken my teacher’s advice to heart and always maintained my grades. After reading Orlando’s article, I have realized that his claim is completely accurate. All of this time, I have gone through school with the idea that the goal is achieving good grades in order to one day attend a good college, rather than actually striving to learn. However, it has been hard to recognize that the concept of learning is the ultimate goal when I have been accepted into prestigious organizations based off of my academic