Six reasons for bad grades

Six reasons for bad grades

Harvey P. Mandel and Sander I. Marcus (1995) presented an exciting analysis of poor school performance among adolescents. Based on their work with thousands of students whose performance fell short of expectations, they concluded, „Underachieving students are indeed highly motivated-but with a goal other than getting good grades. And the key to helping them turn the corner and start performing well in school again is to figure out what their motivation is.“

I will discuss six common motivation-based factors for underachievement. You can find out something about each of these factors using standardized test scores in the Reiss School Motivation Profile (RSMP). Four of the six causes are something quite normal. Only two of them are possible symptoms of a mental disorder. When I say that underachievement is often the result of normal motivational factors, I‘m not saying that it‘s perfectly okay for teens to get bad grades in school. Rather, I am saying that the solution is not to treat misdiagnosed or nonexistent disorders.

By definition, underachievement refers to a chronic discrepancy between a person‘s overall performance and his or her achievement potential. Adolescents who perform too poorly receive grades that are far below their potential.