I think a major problem is the method of teaching now. When I was in elementary and middle school I did great in things like science and math because I was actually taught how to solve the problems. In high school I was taught how to make computers and calculators solve it for you. Since I am the learn by instruction and doing not learn by reading sort of person this was crippling for me and I never could recover from it.
I LIKE learning, if you take a class that is hard and challenging but work through it and learn along the way you feel accomplished when you do well. That is enough motivation for me to stay up all night studying and working my ass off. If however, you put in tons and tons of work and learn nothing by the end you fell like crap and feel like you have thrown your time and money away. The father I go in education it seems like so much less of the former and more of the latter and it pisses me the hell off.