Solar shares his experience with Lunar, speaking of lack of motivation, that is one of common problems, that students would probably encounter.
Solar: What is the matter of lack of motivation to students? This question is highly concerned by each educator, who witnesses students in lack of motivation decreasing their enthusiasm toward learning, and who is the guide that guides them to find back the spark to keep staying engaged.
Lunar concerns the matter of lack of motivation to students, and wonders these questions: What could possibly cause students in lack of motivation? If it is internal factors, what's wrong with students? If it is external factors, what's the matters?
Lunar: What could possibly cause students in lack of motivation?
Solar: Boredom and burnout can drain students' enthusiasm toward learning, making them detest study or even drop out.
Lunar: Boredom is a state of feeling bored. Burnout is a state of feeling physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress. If it's internal factors, what's wrong with students? What could possibly cause them boredom and burnout?
Solar: Mental health, lack of purpose, low self-efficacy, fear of failure and lack of autonomy might be the reasons to cause them boredom and burnout.
Lunar: Mental health?
Solar: Mental health is the chief problem to students. Some of them struggling with depression may lack the energy and hope required to start a task. Some anxious students may be so paralyzed to start a task that they avoid altogether.
Lunar: How can they cope with mental health?
Solar: The students struggling with depression need a listener to talk to and a hope to cling on. The anxious students need to take their weekend to relax and have loose.
Lunar: Lack of purpose?
Solar: What they were taught in the class, may not be used in their own personal life. When they cannot see the use of it, the task feels meaningless. Motivation is fueled by seeing "why".
Lunar: Low self-efficacy?
Solar: Some of them are in lack of confidence. They believe they are not good at math, when they cannot understand math. They stop trying, when they know it won't make a difference. They need encouragement to establish their faith and confidence.
Lunar: Fear of failure?
Solar: For some of them, the fear of trying and failing is greater than the fear of not trying at all. Not trying at all provides them an excuse to comfort their self-esteem. The way to overcome the fear of failure is to face failure with smile.
Lunar: Lack of autonomy?
Solar: When students feel like passive recipient of an inflexible system, their intrinsic motivation plummets. It would take interest to take place of lack of autonomy.
Lunar: Hopefully, these steps could help students rediscover their "why", turning their lack of motivation into action.
Solar: When I stood in front of them at teaching platform, through the window of eyes, I looked upon them, some of them struggling with mental health, some in lack of purpose, some in low self-efficacy, some fearing of failure and some in lack of autonomy, asking of how many of you have ever felt boredom and burnout?
Lunar: How many of them have ever felt boredom and burnout?
Solar: Wow, all of them.
Lunar: You assigned an essay to them, didn't you?
Solar: Yes.
Lunar: What kind of essay was it?
Solar: I assigned them an essay about what do you know about the distance to success? Imagine yourself struggling with giving up something. Ask yourself what and when did you pick up? When and why do you feel like giving up? Before you give up, ask yourself why have you held on for so long?
Lunar: May you please tell me some of your students' works?
Solar: I picked up painting, when I was six years old. I never painted what I saw with my eyes, only painted what I saw with my heart. I saw a tree, I painted a trunk, which was the tree's future, when it's getting cut down. I dreamed of painting a masterpiece that's worth of one million dollars. Ten years later, I was pushed and pulled by the tide to be a manga artist of one million manga artists. When people were no longer interested in manga, most of manga artists changed this field and became chefs, and I was also one of them. It's been fifteen years, since the first time I painted a drawing. Mr Burnout.
Lunar: Mr Burnout?
Solar: Mr Burnout was a brilliant master in the world of art. If he was born in the 19th century, he would have achieved something great in the world of art. Well. Nowadays people hold prejudice against artists, AI generators challenge traditional artists, and the audiences are engaged by something more Interesting than manga.
Lunar: How could traditional artist survive in this age?
Solar: This age needs more designers than traditional artists. Digital painting would take place of traditional painting. Most of them have changed this field, some of them still paint manga, some design covers, and some design character images.
Lunar: The next essay, please.
Solar: I picked up writing, when I was six years old. I wrote my own diary, before I could write an article. I wrote about everything, my childhood and pleasant memories, before I read a lot of beautiful articles at junior high school. After reading a lot of magazines, my writer's dream started to fly with wings. Ten years ago, it's the best age for writers. But I was just a junior high student then. Ten years later, I was just an ordinary writer of one million writers. The audiences are engaged by something more Interesting than novels, the majority of writers couldn't get paid, and AI started to challenge this line. Miss Deadline.
Lunar: Miss Deadline is a brilliant writer, isn't she?
Solar: Yes. She is a brilliant writer of one million brilliant writers.
Lunar: Have you ever read her novel?
Solar: Yes.
Lunar: What kind of novel is it?
Solar: It's an urban romance between a young woman and a young gentleman. The young woman who is much better than her own circumstance, as so many are. The young gentleman who received much better than he deserves, as so many did.