The Boston Globe has just published a short report on a to-be-published study. The study found that:

Students whose career goals did not require education (e.g., sports star, movie star) spent less time on homework and got lower grades. The good news is that the researchers found it was easy to make education more salient, and thereby motivate kids. When students were shown a graph depicting the link between education and earnings, they were much more likely to hand in an extra-credit homework assignment the next day than if they were shown a graph depicting the earnings of superstars.

I’m adding this information to The Best Resources For Showing Students Why They Should Continue Their Academic Career. That list shares a number of accessible resources that show income by educational attainment level, and I use those with my students.

However, I’d also like to repeat here what I wrote in that list:

Of course, the key way to help students see the importance of college and learning is not just by showing them a bunch of statistics, but developing a relationship with them; learning their hopes and dreams for the future; and help them see how in many areas — not just economically — furthering their academic career will help them achieve their goals. These materials are just a few tools that might be helpful.