Who to blame when students say "I don't like studying!"?

I've been telling many people that I'd like to go back to school one day. There's something about being in school that I miss... But I'm not going to lie, the moment I realize how much work I'd have to do when I start wearing my "student" hat, laziness kicks in--I don't like studying that much... :p

As an adult who has had a taste of school both as a student and as a teacher, I cant agree more with my students when they say that studying is hard! Whenever I said to my parents that things were getting too hard and confusing at school, they always said "Well, if studying is easy, what's there to challenge you? It'll be boring! Life isn't easy, you know... So toughen up!" Ok, just like many wisdom words said by my parents, I agree... Life is hard, and being in school was like being a boot camp to prepare me to face the hardship of life.

What bothers me the most is when I hear students say that they don't like studying! Why do students say this to us?


This morning, I chatted with a student whom I think is very smart and responsible. She reminds me of myself, hehehhe... Let's call her Adriana. For the past few chats I had with her, she mentioned how difficult it has been for her to be motivated at school. She struggles trying to overcome her so-called laziness to touch books, and seems to have lost the stamina, and more so her motivation in studying. She mentioned that it was mainly because she thought that things were getting too hard at school, and she felt overwhelmed!

The whole lecture of "take a break in between studying, relax, don't pressure yourself, and you'll be fine" sounds like something anyone would say to a student who's in Adriana's position. I did the same thing, and at the end of the chat, I prayed to God to give her the strengths and motivation so she'll be better and ultimately do well in school.

But why do most students, if not all students, have to go through that stage where they dislike studying?

I was in Adriana's position many times... I remember the last year of high school just before the National Examination. I guess it doesn't matter if your mother is a doctor because it doesn't guarantee anything when it comes to Biology class... I saw no point of studying Biology then (no offense to those who adore chromosome and cells), and it was a torture for me when I had to study for Biology. So the night before Biology National Exam, I did nothing for a long time but stared at the 9 Biology textbooks, notes taken since grade 10 and past exam papers. At the end of the long hollow stare, I said to myself: Enough with this stuff! I'm not going to study all this, coz I know I can't! I'll just study enough to pass... Whatever happens tomorrow will happen, whether I'm ready or not!" The result, well, who cares now, all you need to know is I passed...

Are we giving too much at school that are beyond the students' skills?
Have we set the appropriate competencies for students to achieve?
Do we check for students' understanding before turning to the next chapter?
And... Have we really listened to our students WHY they don't like studying?

If only my teachers had taken a moment to listen to me and ask themselves these questions, I would have probably done better, or at least appreciated my learning experience more than just a mere of papers after papers to memorize...