Doing us proud in the final year

Earlier this month many students will have entered the final year of their schooling, some with fear and trepidation, others with burning ambition, some with a "careless, don't care" attitude and others just secretly wanting this last school year to end.

The sad fact that entry to this Leaving Certificate year tends to be littered with threats, dire predictions or promises of rewards for high performance.

The threats can take many verbal and non-verbal forms (tone of voice, cross facial expression, finger wagging and so on).

"You know what this year is - so no football, no discos, no dating - just hard work. Right!"

"This year will follow you for the rest of your life." "Remember, without a good Leaving Certificate, you'll get nowhere."

"Do us proud this year."

Threats never work as a means of motivating young (or older) people to apply themselves to their studies and responsibilities; indeed they have the opposite effect. Threats and cajoling induce fear and resentment and are more likely to effect any one or more of a number of defensive responses - avoidance, rebelliousness, perfectionism, timidity, learning problems, sickness. Furthermore, the need for parents or teachers to threaten Leaving Certificate students would suggest that a motivational problem already exists and attendance to that is far more desirable and expedient. Emotional safety and patience are essential requisites for such an enquiry.

Motivational problems can be bi-directional - under-drive or over-drive. It is between these two extremes - the golden mean of intrinsic drive - that mature motivation lies.

Under-drive is an avoidance and rebellious response to being punished for not meeting parents' and teachers' academic expectations. It is a sad fact that certain behaviours - high achievement, success - become more important than the sacred person of a child. Wisely, children subconsciously reduce stress by avoidance of the behaviours that are a source of threat and by playing down their unlimited intellectual potential. Children are masters at convincing adults of "I'm slow", "I'm average", "I wouldn't be good at that". Of course, adults use similar protective strategies and children have good teachers. An over-drive motivation is where students strive relentlessly for high academic performance in order to gain recognition. Every child and adult needs to be loved for the self; when this is not forthcoming some children find a substitute that fits in with the unrealistic expectations of their parents and others. Success has become a common addictive substitute for the real craving to be loved for self. Such students (and adults) can become besotted with the substitute goal and rarely tire of it. They attempt to satisfy their craving with more and more success experiences, not noticing that the more they feed their craving the more empty they feel. They have thus become success "junkies" or "addicts", who are in a place of denial where they have mistaken their goal and need to go on looking. They are firmly in the grip of fear, performance anxiety, delusion and academic overdrive.

It is all too easy for parents, teachers and others to delude themselves with the substitute value of socially acceptable addictions - work, success, fame, wealth, knowledge, status and so on. Ironically, these addictions cause as much personal, interpersonal, family, work and spiritual problems as the "socially unacceptable" addictions - drop-out, alcohol, drugs, food, sex, violence, cigarettes, gambling. However, while individuals with the latter substitutes frequently come or are sent for help, the former "acceptable" addictive group rarely come or are sent.

Infants and toddlers have a natural curiosity and innate eagerness to learn. These disappear or are lessened as they become more and more exposed to the complexes and dependencies of parents, teachers and relatives. Learning needs to be an adventure, an excitement, an inspiration. Promising students rewards (money, holiday, car) for points achieved is not a desirable motivational play. It destroys the intense value of learning and creates an extrinsic dependence on tangible acknowledgements outside self. Furthermore, young people know that they are not being valued for themselves but for what they achieve and they are likely to resist such manipulation. When they conform to it there will always be a hidden resentment and, sadly, they end up living life according to the demands of others and lose touch with their own unique worth.

Students, parents and teachers need to refocus on what is the real search - peace with self and others - and move away from the substitute, bottomless-pit goals of success, status, power and wealth. Paradoxically, such refocusing restores the intrinsic love of learning that is present in all of us, which leads to greater learning and creativity - without the baggage of fear.

Dr Tony Humphreys is a consultant clinical psychologist and author of Work and Worth: take back your life.