[CottonBall]

I wrote more than a few of those papers when I was in school. It wasn't that I didn't want to learn - it was just that I wanted to know why. I even got an A on a paper where I concluded that it wasn't important. :-)

Good for you to do the papers! Most of my students that got them assigned didn't even bother.

BTW, I only assigned the papers after the student became argumentative about why we were studying the concept. I warned them all that if they wanted to know why we were studying something, I would answer to the best of my ability to how it could relate to their future studies or goals. But I had many who had no future goals! They would argue after my explanation that, for example, they would never need polar coordinates in physics because they were going to major in art. So, they got assigned a paper and a recommendation to drop Advanced Math and take something easier. (The hint that it was too much for their meager abilities usually got some to try harder, and others did drop - to my relief!)

[speekinout]

Maybe you should be quicker to assign the papers. I got totally sucked into a scam by one of my HS teachers who said we could either learn the material, or write a paper showing why it was irrelevant.

The latter choice is appealing - you can make the teacher look silly, you think. But you have to learn a lot more than just the basic course material to even try.

Many students don't have a concept of "goals". but they for sure do know about "challenges".