Among the many benefits of attending a military academy is that it instills a lifetime’s worth of drive and self-motivation. Enrolling at an outstanding military school for boys and girls allows young adults the opportunity to become talented and well-rounded individuals. They will be prepared to achieve great things in school and life.
At Massanutten Military Academy, we endeavor to deliver an excellent standard of education. Our top-class curriculum includes a variety of advanced courses, as well as STEM classes, to provide our students with a balanced degree of knowledge. Furthermore, we provide individualized guidance and college counseling for each of our students, ensuring they feel supported throughout their time at our Academy.
Below, we discuss some common issues teenagers have in maintaining their self-motivation as well as how military schools help:
Common Motivational Issues Among Teenagers
Lack of Meaningful Goals
As children age into young adulthood, they may start to lose motivation for their responsibilities, such as chores, schoolwork, or activities. Professional counselors indicate that the problem lies in young adults becoming less driven by personal gratification from external sources and instead by internal motivators. A few examples of internal motivators include:
- Developing a skill toward mastery
- Accomplishing a particular goal they set for themselves
Without attaching these kinds of motivators to their daily tasks and schoolwork, teenagers are less likely to have the motivation necessary to perform with enthusiasm and diligence.
A Habit of Avoiding Tasks or Leaving Them Unfinished
Avoiding tasks or leaving them incomplete is another sign of a young adult’s inability to stay motivated. Such aversion may include:
- Incomplete homework assignments
- Avoiding or never showing for appointments or meet-ups
- Unfinished chores
- Untouched personal projects
These things occur for many reasons. For instance, the teenager may fail to experience any tangible consequence for failing to complete the task.
Overly-Critical Environment
Another issue that causes many young adults to lose motivation is a harsh and overly-critical environment. Whether at home or school, a young adult who feels judged may believe they do not measure up to the standards of others. As a result, they become insecure and lose motivation to act in one way or another.
A Fixed Learning Mentality
A final factor that inhibits a teenager’s sense of motivation is a fixed mentality about learning. A fixed mentality influences intelligence and talent by actualizing phrases like “There are some things I can’t learn” or “Other people can do this, but I can’t.”
This mentality causes teens to undercut developing skills and prevents them from working on hard-to-learn skills. However, in the right learning environment, they can turn their motivational issues around and find that they are capable and intelligent.
How Military School Helps Motivate Teenagers
Promotes Discovery of New Skills & Talents
Military schools are effective at motivating teenage students because their curriculum requires students to participate in extracurricular activities. New activities encourage students to develop novel skills and mindsets.
Massanutten Military Academy maintains this policy in our curriculum and provides a wide variety of clubs, sports, and activities for cadets to learn and grow through.
Structures Camaraderie & Leadership
Military schools also ensure that cadets receive support from their peers through its ranked structure, aligning students together among their grade levels. This encourages a sense of belonging and camaraderie among students within their class levels.
At Massanutten, we ensure our students remain around peers that share their experiences in school. We also ensure they have mentors—both older cadets and among our faculty—who will help guide them as they grow into the distinguished young adults they should be.
Develops Habits of Self-Discipline
Military school instills respect for personal order and responsibility, which helps in building a young teenager’s motivation. In step with military tradition, our academy’s cadets follow a strict dress code and standard of personal conduct that ingrains habits of self-discipline.
As military school students, teens will learn the discipline necessary to push themselves to a higher standard in their personal and academic life.
Encourages Teens to Make Goals & Achieve Them
Finally, a prestigious military school for boys and girls like Massanutten motivates cadets by emphasizing their personal development. We do so by offering personal guidance and college counseling for plans after graduation—whether that includes higher education or a military career.
Our counselors provide students with a personalized academic roadmap that helps them identify and set their short- and long-term goals so that they have a clear vision of their future. This will motivate them to work towards their goals through to graduation.
Massanutten Military Academy: Well-Established Military School For Boys
A distinguished military school for boys and girls like Massanutten Military Academy is dedicated to providing students with positive learning experiences. We seek to inspire excellence through our world-class curriculum and school traditions of teamwork, self-discipline, and leadership. Our goal is to help families produce generations of proud, well-rounded individuals that will serve their communities and the world at large. Contact us at (540) 459-2167 to learn more about us or fill out this form to apply for your student today.