‘Why do I have to learn this?’

Why do I have to learn this?” is one of the most consistent and persistent questions students ask us. As former teachers and as researchers who study motivation in school, we’ve heard this question from our students; from the many students who have participated in our research studies; and, in the case of one author, from his own children during their K-12 education.

This is a reasonable question for students to ask. Few of us want to sit through professional development sessions that we see as irrelevant to our work. We would not want to read a book or watch a television show that we didn’t enjoy or find useful. So why would our students want to learn about topics that don’t seem relevant to them?

It’s essential that students understand why they are being asked to learn various subjects in school. We would like to recommend some low-cost strategies rooted in science that can help teachers reveal this information to students. These strategies take very little time and no additional investment in programs or materials.