by Kendall Proctor ’11

One of Sherwood’s Guiding Principles, posted on the walls of many classrooms, states “excellence is achievable and always worth the investment.” Yet many students at school underachieve. Although an underachieving student may be intelligent, he or she may not put enough effort into schoolwork to reach his or her full academic potential.

“Students underachieve mostly because they don’t give a hoot,” wrote Ruth Peters, author of “Overcoming Underachieving: A Simple Plan to Boost Your Kids’ Grades and End the Homework Hassles.”

Such students, who may become bored in the classroom because they’ve already learned the material or have a lack of motivation to excel, often need other incentives to try harder. “Because of teens’ needs for independence and new experiences, activity awards can be tremendously effective in motivating them to achieve in school,” wrote Peters in her book.

The difficulty for teachers is making the learning experience beneficial for everyone, underachieving or not. “Some teachers have more outgoing personalities so that seems to help me stay awake and listen to what they have to say,” said junior Colin McMahon. He believes he would be more involved in school “if there were more hands on activities to do or worksheets so I could try to learn the material after being taught it.”

Other students also think they would do better if they had more opportunities in class to participate in their own learning. “I wish teachers didn’t teach the class like they think we know what we are doing, because we don’t,” said senior Ricky Neil. However, he also believes giving total effort in school is not worth the stress because he has already been accepted to college.

Some students may struggle in class and then develop negative self-perceptions. Thoughts like “Why should I even bother? I’m going to fail anyways” will become more common than positive ones. Confidence will help a student achieve in school. James Delisl and Sandra Berger of the U.S. Department of Education’s Educational Resource Information Center noted in their article “Underachieving Gifted Students” that children who learn to see themselves in terms of failure eventually begin to place self-imposed limits of what is possible. According to the article, to be successful in school students need academic and emotional support. Not only do teachers influence a student’s accomplishments in school, but family members can have an equal or greater impact. Parents should enforce organization and study skills at an early age, so students have a good system when they start high school.

Psychologist Michael Whitley specializes in helping children, adolescents and adults overcome underachievement and discouragement, and is the author of “Bright Minds, Poor Grades: Understanding and Motivating Your Underachieving Child.” Whitley has developed the “Six Pillars of Success.” Independence, impulse control, will-power, transformation, responsibility skills and a rational mind are the skills one needs to overcome underachievement. “Some kids learn these skills early in life and other kids need help, sometimes a lot of help, to learn these skills. Nevertheless, however they learn them, these are absolutely essential for success in school and in the life that follows graduation,” wrote Whitley in his online newsletter.

Local certified social worker and psychotherapist Andrea Lopes of Olney Counseling believes one of the main reasons for underachieving in adolescents is undiagnosed learning disabilities. She has worked with teens who have struggled with school, completely unaware of a learning disability. “For years, they are told they are not working hard enough, that they are lazy, careless, or not motivated. Over time, the negative messages they receive create frustration and low self-esteem. They begin to believe the negative messages and then they decide it’s easier to give up,” said Lopes.

She adds, “The most important way to deal with underachieving is to first determine the cause. If there is a possibility of a learning disability, it is crucial to have psychoeducational testing done. In order to help the student, we must first know what is getting in the way. If learning disabilities are diagnosed, specific strategies to address these issues can be developed. In general it is important to help the student set realistic, attainable goals and have an organized system for managing their work.”