How do I motivate a 17 year old student?

Question

I have a teenage son that just seems to do bare minimum to get by. He use to talk about what four year college he wanted to go to and now he says he will just go to a junior college and transfer to a four year college from there. He was always on the lazy side which is my fault for not making him do more. What can I do to help him work at his highest level?

Answer 1

money money always works

o best answer

Answer 2

At least he is still talking of going to school.

Going to a junior college first can actually be very beneficial.  It helps prepare them for the onset of 'real' college while saving the payee thousands of dollars.  Its like a "middle school" between high school and college.

I would say he is still slightly motivated by the fact that he still talks of going to a school.  I would let him do as he wishes school wise since he knows what he can manage or not.

Answer 3

Stick a fire cracker in his pants, light the fuse and run like mad.

Seriously, if his attitude towards his future has taken that much of detour you may want to have a serious talk with him and if he really is hesitant about it I would suggest scheduling parent/teacher/guidance counselor/principal conference to have kind of a brainstorm session to swap feedback about his change of attitude to see if you can figure out what's bothering him.  It could possibly be something as simple as he didn't score as high as he would have liked on SATs, maybe the reality of the cost hit him, or even a serious relationship has begun.

I wish you luck.

Answer 4

It sounds as though someone has discouraged him. Maybe someone said something that made him think he'll have difficulties. Maybe you can casually ask him what made him change his mind.

Answer 5

Take away all of his privileges and make him earn them back with specific accomplishments.