Is it in you?

You're probably wondering what I'm referring to in the title. I would think of some smart-assed way to present a better thesis, but that would take way too much thinking and work. So instead I'll just plainly come out and say it: I'm referring to the motivation to do well in school.

Continuing on with the school psychobabble theme from my last blog because it seems to be the common denominator in everyone's life, I've just come to ponder how and why people are motivated to do so well in school? I'm not saying that it's a bad thing at all, but every so often it is interesting to take a look at what makes people tick, or in this case, stress out about school.

The reason why I ask this question is because I've been seeming to lack in this area as of late. To me personally, there is no real motivation to do extremely well in a course unless you're shooting for a specific scholarship or you're in your graduating year. To me, it just seems that in reality, students only need the bare minimum they require to pass the course and have a high enough mark to move onto the next level of the course. From the best of my knowledge, jobs don't tend to look at any marks except for the graduate year marks when determining jobs. I mean, of course you're gonna work hard if you're trying to transfer to a higher end school with your GPA. But in my personal situation, it seems like I've already chosen my path, and really all I need is a high enough GPA to go onto the next year.

Am I being too simpleminded about the subject? I'd like to hear everyone's input into what drives them to get the higher grades in their courses.