<p>Firstly, this question sounds pretty clearly self-serving, like saying "I want people to like me more; how do I make them like me?". Secondly, school is a business, much like other businesses. When a company makes a product, of course the company hopes the market will "appreciate" the product. There are many marketing strategies used out there, but the long-term viability of a product requires that it provides clear value. Without that value, prospects cannot be expected to appreciate the product. In the case of high school, most students are probably aware that the product is not being sold to the students but instead to the parents. Hence, students are not the customer. Since students are not the customer, and since students had little to no say in the product's design, getting the students to appreciate the product is going to be very challenging.</p>

<p>One approach is to make the students believe they are the customer. You might, for example, use a bandwagon strategy wherein you explain that "There are many happy students from years prior who have attended this school and are now enjoying a life of success and freedom".</p>

<p>Another approach, which would be more honest, would be to actually <strong>make the students into the customer</strong>, such as by designing the curriculum around their needs and aspirations while providing <strong>a clear value that cannot easily be found elsewhere</strong>. If you are to be honest with yourself, this is the only noble approach. If a school cannot provide clear benefits that a student cannot find outside of school (such as on the Internet or in books alone), then that school is not doing its job. Sure, there are many types of rhetoric and trickery that can (and often are) employed by schools and governments, but these are nothing to be proud of.</p>

<p>In short: Provide a unique and worthwhile opportunity with a benefit that can be seen clearly. Engage the students in the curriculum -- make <em>them</em> the customer.</p>

<p>PS: While a bit off-topic, I just remembered a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xe6nLVXEC0" rel="nofollow">music video</a> that critiques some of the curriculum focus in the recent if not current school system. This video had no bearing on my answer here as I only remembered the video afterward, but its topic is related enough to be worth mentioning here.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T14:55:41.470Z
You've already explained how to make the student the customer in your answer and I think that through clubs, hands on experiences that -most likely- wouldnt be available at other schools, students are recieving an education that would be nearly impossible to achieve outside of school. I would agree with your statement and argument that that is the best to go about trying to get students to ve more appreciative, however I think that there still is a lack of appreciation. I will be working on trying to provide more unique curriculum for the student. (Cont. On next comment)
Morella Almånd
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T14:58:42.920Z
I get the feeling -and other teachers do too- that students don't like school, much less its classes. We try to make lessons interesting, but often times I think that students don't like them. Do you think that the root of the problem lies there, and if so how would you suggest that we change it?
Morella Almånd
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:01:36.243Z
From what I have seen in my life so far, it seems that general appreciation for anything in life comes from having enough experience to understand what it would be like to lack that particular something. This is the reason why some people are "spoiled" from having too much available to them, too consistently. People tend to adjust their sense of value on whatever the norm is, so few people appreciate what has basically always been available. At the same time, a consumerist society and culture actively works against appreciating what we already have.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:04:17.577Z
While I cannot provide any silver bullets, the first thoughts that usually comes to mind for me on this topic are that (a) you have to make sure you really are providing value to the customer and (b) you have to make sure the prospect, customer, or client is able to understand and see that value. My experience is mostly in business, not education, but I cannot see how they are all that different really since education is indeed a product (more like a service) to be sold. Consultants also sell education, albeit in a more money-oriented form.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:07:52.927Z
Any time you work hard to provide a product or service you want people to appreciate it. Believe me, I understand this desire. Nobody wants the fruits of their work to be viewed as worthless. At the same time, you have to be honest with yourself and really look at the other options the customer has. You have to look at it from their perspective and try to figure out what their desires are. It is not always easy to target the customer's wants. Sometimes you have to do surveys and collect information in other ways just to figure out what the customer really wants.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:09:59.583Z
Humans have a natural desire to learn, you can bet on that. The key is in making sure they *want* to learn about those things you have to offer -- while making sure those things you have to offer really are the most beneficial things to learn for those students. Reality is a tricky thing. Sure, we often want to believe we know it all, but reality is cold and brutal. Reality shows no sympathy.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:12:26.353Z
When you think about how much the world has changed in the last 20 years, with all the globalisation and competition, along with all the positive changes brought by technology, it should only be expected that the education system is going to have to change at least as much as society in general has changed. Sure, this alone does not tell you how to fix the problem, but at least it gives you a hint at what to look at: How society and personal needs have changed over the last 20 or 30 years as a result of technology and globalisation.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:16:45.410Z
Thinking about technology just gave me an idea: Most young people are interested in the future -- both in terms of positive and negative changes -- such as the imminent possibility of advanced AI and automation (think robotics). If you can see into the fears and hopes of students with respect to how they view the more distant future, you can better gain their attention. If you can *relate* with those things they are concerned about or interested in, they will almost certainly like and appreciate you more.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:17:48.563Z
Students are young. They are interested in the future world and society much more than the past world and society. One thing they certainly do not want is to feel like they are being held back, not being let to explore the future of humanity.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:21:09.150Z
This is not to say, for example, that you cannot teach them about history; but that teaching must relate to not only the present -- but to the future. That link needs to be clear, and the way history is taught needs to be with the future in mind. After all, there is no need to live in the past. As you may know, once a person reaches the "mid-life crisis", the majority of that person's life is in the past. High school students' lives are almost entirely in the future, so that is what they are most focused on.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T15:34:41.147Z
In any case. Hopefully I gave some worthwhile food for thought. My answer and my comments above are of course only a quick attempt at being useful. In a perfect world, they would have been thought out much better. There is always room for improvement. Fortunately, the future is big enough to hold improvement. The key is in staying on the right path -- the continual pursuit of wisdom.
Michael
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-28T00:07:53.777Z
I think what you said in the above comment (3rd to last) about our students not wanting to feel like they are being heald back is -at least partially- one of the main reasons that they aren't noticeably appreciative. I work at a fairly conservative school in regards to its policy. Many of the students have major qualms about certain aspects of it (e.g dress code and electronic use policy). Although these arent major points of their education, I think that it very largely affects how they think we see them as well as their ability to feel, for lack of a better word, less controled.
Morella Almånd
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-28T00:10:13.993Z
Thank you for your in depth answer; it's helped quite a bit in understanding how the students themselvs think as opposed to trying to, in a way, manipulate them.
Morella Almånd
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-01-27T14:41:34.683Z
2016-01-27T17:28:06.853Z
2016-01-27T17:28:06.853Z
Michael
<p>I'm a teacher at a highschool and currently we've been working on projects that are supposed to make the kids appreciate those around them especially the other teachers and workers at the school. During an advisory time earlier this year, we had the students write a letter of appreciation to someone who works at the school. Another project that we're going to start up is a student voted "employee of the month" and that teacher/worker will be somehow celebrated -we haven't worked out the details-. The problem with both of these ideas is that they're ineffective and the students all just wrote letters begrudgingly and I think this upcoming project won't make them feel appreciation for those who help them either. </p>

<p>Are there general steps, for either creating an environment for students to appreciate teachers and other workers? Or are there general ways that appreciation works in the mind so that we can come up with projects that will truly help them?</p>

<social-psychology><educational-psychology><positive-psychology>
How to foster an environment for appreciation
Morella Almånd
# How to foster an environment for appreciation

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-01-20)

I'm a teacher at a highschool and currently we've been working on projects that are supposed to make the kids appreciate those around them especially the other teachers and workers at the school. During an advisory time earlier this year, we had the students write a letter of appreciation to someone who works at the school. Another project that we're going to start up is a student voted "employee of the month" and that teacher/worker will be somehow celebrated -we haven't worked out the details-. The problem with both of these ideas is that they're ineffective and the students all just wrote letters begrudgingly and I think this upcoming project won't make them feel appreciation for those who help them either.

Are there general steps, for either creating an environment for students to appreciate teachers and other workers? Or are there general ways that appreciation works in the mind so that we can come up with projects that will truly help them?

**Tags:** social-psychology, educational-psychology, positive-psychology


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-01-27. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Firstly, this question sounds pretty clearly self-serving, like saying "I want people to like me more; how do I make them like me?". Secondly, school is a business, much like other businesses. When a company makes a product, of course the company hopes the market will "appreciate" the product. There are many marketing strategies used out there, but the long-term viability of a product requires that it provides clear value. Without that value, prospects cannot be expected to appreciate the product. In the case of high school, most students are probably aware that the product is not being sold to the students but instead to the parents. Hence, students are not the customer. Since students are not the customer, and since students had little to no say in the product's design, getting the students to appreciate the product is going to be very challenging.

One approach is to make the students believe they are the customer. You might, for example, use a bandwagon strategy wherein you explain that "There are many happy students from years prior who have attended this school and are now enjoying a life of success and freedom".

Another approach, which would be more honest, would be to actually **make the students into the customer**, such as by designing the curriculum around their needs and aspirations while providing **a clear value that cannot easily be found elsewhere**. If you are to be honest with yourself, this is the only noble approach. If a school cannot provide clear benefits that a student cannot find outside of school (such as on the Internet or in books alone), then that school is not doing its job. Sure, there are many types of rhetoric and trickery that can (and often are) employed by schools and governments, but these are nothing to be proud of.

In short: Provide a unique and worthwhile opportunity with a benefit that can be seen clearly. Engage the students in the curriculum -- make *them* the customer.

PS: While a bit off-topic, I just remembered a [music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xe6nLVXEC0) that critiques some of the curriculum focus in the recent if not current school system. This video had no bearing on my answer here as I only remembered the video afterward, but its topic is related enough to be worth mentioning here.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: You've already explained how to make the student the customer in your answer and I think that through clubs, hands on experiences that -most likely- wouldnt be available at other schools, students are recieving an education that would be nearly impossible to achieve outside of school. I would agree with your statement and argument that that is the best to go about trying to get students to ve more appreciative, however I think that there still is a lack of appreciation. I will be working on trying to provide more unique curriculum for the student. (Cont. On next comment)  
> **username_0**: I get the feeling -and other teachers do too- that students don't like school, much less its classes. We try to make lessons interesting, but often times I think that students don't like them. Do you think that the root of the problem lies there, and if so how would you suggest that we change it?  
> **username_1**: From what I have seen in my life so far, it seems that general appreciation for anything in life comes from having enough experience to understand what it would be like to lack that particular something. This is the reason why some people are "spoiled" from having too much available to them, too consistently. People tend to adjust their sense of value on whatever the norm is, so few people appreciate what has basically always been available. At the same time, a consumerist society and culture actively works against appreciating what we already have.  
> **username_1**: While I cannot provide any silver bullets, the first thoughts that usually comes to mind for me on this topic are that (a) you have to make sure you really are providing value to the customer and (b) you have to make sure the prospect, customer, or client is able to understand and see that value. My experience is mostly in business, not education, but I cannot see how they are all that different really since education is indeed a product (more like a service) to be sold. Consultants also sell education, albeit in a more money-oriented form.  
> **username_1**: Any time you work hard to provide a product or service you want people to appreciate it. Believe me, I understand this desire. Nobody wants the fruits of their work to be viewed as worthless. At the same time, you have to be honest with yourself and really look at the other options the customer has. You have to look at it from their perspective and try to figure out what their desires are. It is not always easy to target the customer's wants. Sometimes you have to do surveys and collect information in other ways just to figure out what the customer really wants.  
> **username_1**: Humans have a natural desire to learn, you can bet on that. The key is in making sure they *want* to learn about those things you have to offer -- while making sure those things you have to offer really are the most beneficial things to learn for those students. Reality is a tricky thing. Sure, we often want to believe we know it all, but reality is cold and brutal. Reality shows no sympathy.  
> **username_1**: When you think about how much the world has changed in the last 20 years, with all the globalisation and competition, along with all the positive changes brought by technology, it should only be expected that the education system is going to have to change at least as much as society in general has changed. Sure, this alone does not tell you how to fix the problem, but at least it gives you a hint at what to look at: How society and personal needs have changed over the last 20 or 30 years as a result of technology and globalisation.  
> **username_1**: Thinking about technology just gave me an idea: Most young people are interested in the future -- both in terms of positive and negative changes -- such as the imminent possibility of advanced AI and automation (think robotics). If you can see into the fears and hopes of students with respect to how they view the more distant future, you can better gain their attention. If you can *relate* with those things they are concerned about or interested in, they will almost certainly like and appreciate you more.  
> **username_1**: Students are young. They are interested in the future world and society much more than the past world and society. One thing they certainly do not want is to feel like they are being held back, not being let to explore the future of humanity.  
> **username_1**: This is not to say, for example, that you cannot teach them about history; but that teaching must relate to not only the present -- but to the future. That link needs to be clear, and the way history is taught needs to be with the future in mind. After all, there is no need to live in the past. As you may know, once a person reaches the "mid-life crisis", the majority of that person's life is in the past. High school students' lives are almost entirely in the future, so that is what they are most focused on.  
> **username_1**: In any case. Hopefully I gave some worthwhile food for thought. My answer and my comments above are of course only a quick attempt at being useful. In a perfect world, they would have been thought out much better. There is always room for improvement. Fortunately, the future is big enough to hold improvement. The key is in staying on the right path -- the continual pursuit of wisdom.  
> **username_0**: I think what you said in the above comment (3rd to last) about our students not wanting to feel like they are being heald back is -at least partially- one of the main reasons that they aren't noticeably appreciative. I work at a fairly conservative school in regards to its policy. Many of the students have major qualms about certain aspects of it (e.g dress code and electronic use policy). Although these arent major points of their education, I think that it very largely affects how they think we see them as well as their ability to feel, for lack of a better word, less controled.  
> **username_0**: Thank you for your in depth answer; it's helped quite a bit in understanding how the students themselvs think as opposed to trying to, in a way, manipulate them.  

---

