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''The ultimate goal of the education system is shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education" (Zimmerman, 1990, 4).
“Self-regulated students select and use self regulated learning strategies to achieve desired academic outcomes on the basis of feedback about learning effectiveness and skill”. (Zimmerman, 1990, 6-7).
Due to students pursuing their own academic goals, they are more likely to self-regulate. These goals can belong in a variety of different domains, but overall they lead to promoting superior academic achievement.
According to a research study done by Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons, students who were able to use self-regulation strategies were able to achieve a higher track level in school. This meant that their ability to self-regulate led to a significant advancement in their learning. (Zimmerman, 1990, 8). Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons made it clear that students in the lower tracks were in fact trying in their classes. The problem was, therefore, not because students on the lower track did not try to get good grades, but their ability to use self-regulation strategies was lacking. This meant that the work they did in class or at home, may not have been to the same level as someone on a higher track.
Or they may not have been able to get the work done due to not being able to plan time to get assignments done, or think about how much time an assignment would take. Everyone has been the kid to tell their parents at 8pm that they have a project due the next morning and they haven't even started. Don't lie, you did it at least once in your life. Hopefully though, it taught you some self-regulation. To plan how much time something will take and not do it the last minute (or maybe you didn't and you do everything last minute still).
Either way, the difference in the two tracks are that those in the advanced track of their school are able to plan, set goals, organize, self-monitor, and self-evaluate their work and themselves in the classroom. They are also often motivated to learn. Learning and motivation cannot be separated and are interdependent of one another (Zimmerman, 1990). This means that if there is a lack of motivation to pursue a subject, a student is less likely to use self-regulation strategies. If a teacher expects students to succeed in their classroom, they must promote a sense of interest. This greatly improves their ability to self-regulate and also how they learn.
Let's talk about this quote: ''The ultimate goal of the education system is shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education" (Zimmerman, 1990, 4).
Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons state this in their work on Self-Regulation. Education is not just about learning math or science, or learning how to read a timeline. Rather, education has the purpose to foster learning in an environment and allow students to pursue their interests. Not always can a teacher be there to tell students about their interests, or maybe they know limited information. When a student becomes interested in a topic, they often begin to guide their own learning by using self-regulation tasks. They plan ahead, they think about the task as they are doing it, and then they reflect on their learning or what they did not understand. This is because the topic they are pursuing is something of interest to them, something they wish to know more about. It is up to the education system to make students interested in their education so they begin to pursue it for themselves. This may not always be easy as students may not see the value in their education, but those that do will move towards a path of Self Regulation. And in doing so, they would improve their academic achievement by wanting to do good in the subjects that interest them.
Why does Calvin have these patterns?
Furthermore, Calvin does not enjoy the assignments that he is given therefore he does not want to do them. They are not relevant to his life and the things that interest him.
While Calvin loves to learn he only loves to learn the topics that mean something to him. These are the topics that promote self-efficacy, self-learning, and self-monitoring. He will always want to know more about the things that motivate and interest him. And as stated before, motivation and self-regulation go hand in hand.
Younger children are motivated but lack the ability to understand academic tasks at a higher level (Zimmerman, 1990).
Therefore they do not tend to understand why they are doing something, or what purpose it will serve them later in life.
Calvin does not understand the purpose of the assignments that he is being given, he cannot see the bigger picture when it comes to his education. Due to this, he tends to evade his assignments.
Instead, his goals tend to align with the things he wishes to pursue, they are not academic.
Part of this may be because Calvin presents the attributes of a student with ADHD or another mental deficit that causes him to have a hard time remembering assignments (like the comic on the bottom) or he cannot focus on one particular pursuit. In the comic directly to the left of this it says 'Mom says the pills must be working'. This presents the idea that Calvin may be on some kind of medicine to help him concentrate, therefore he is now able to self-regulate and get work done.
However, on a normal basis, he does not exhibit the self-regulation strategies to pursue goals that are based upon doing good academically
He does not care about consequences, or think about what consequences will happen if he does not do an assignment or get a good grade on a test. Grades are all but arbitrary to him.
Student learning is greatly influenced by outside affirmation or criticism that at first may not seem to affect a student but overall could have a serious impact on their learning experience. In this comic Ms. Wormwood scolds Calvin on his test, telling him he should be ashamed of his answers. This response to Calvin could lower his self-esteem and make him feel like there is no reason to try because he is always getting scolded by the teacher. Having the teacher continually punish Calvin instead of helping him learn new strategies to succeed and improve prevents Calvin from going through the reflection process and improving his behavior in the future.
An important aspect of student education must come from their desire to learn and improve themselves. In order for this to happen effectively, the student must see a valid reason for learning certain topics and this is something that Calvin seems to struggle with in school. In this comic Calvin makes clear he sees no reason to learn the math topic because it will not help him in life and this exact sentiment might be influencing his behavior. When a student sees something as useless or just as busy work they will act similarly to Calvin and resist the learning process. A student with Calvin's mindset struggles to start the process of self-regulation and needs assistance from the teacher when trying to learn different methods that spark motivation.
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