Do students not want to study? The cultural environment as an explanatory hypothesis

Abstract

The disinterest of adolescents in formal learning and their rejection of educational processes is a phenomenon that worries families and education professionals. In developing a case study, I collected data from an elementary school class in a public school that revealed the presence of such
phenomena, such as a lack of commitment to school activities, inappropriate interruptions of classes, difficulty maintaining concentration, and complaints that classes were tiring and "boring." So why, apparently, do teenagers not want to study? Based on the data collected in this case study and using Vygotsky's theoretical contributions regarding the influence of the cultural environment on learning as an analytical foundation, this research aimed to analyze the described scenario in order to propose an
explanatory hypothesis to the question "do students not want to study?" I found that the disengagement of adolescents from formal school learning was not the result of isolated elements, but of multiple interconnected factors that may include aspects of local culture (e.g., overvaluation of entertainment), low family participation in the educational process (e.g., low level of monitoring of adolescents' school activities and little encouragement for formal study), excessive use of smartphones and frequent access to social networks, and poor structural conditions of the school. Thus, the cultural environment discussed constitutes a mediation between adolescents and learning that takes on a negative character, as it operates as a cultural disincentive that reduces the willingness to learn.