If I ever go to grad school I'm going to write a paper that takes a long time to say this...
KIDS ARE EXTRINSICALLY MOTIVATED!
Now, I'd have to do some research. And, I will have to keep my eyes and ears open from now on to see if its true...but yes, I'm pretty sure that is a true statement in ALL circumstances. There is a lot of controversy at our school right now because they are trying to eliminate necessary items in the grading system such as due dates, formative grades, conduct and effort being wrapped in the one single "grade" they get for completing a class. From what I can tell, this idea began with a book written by a Canadian man who had never taught outside Canada and Australia. Perhaps I am wrong, as I have never been to Canada and have limited experience with Australia...but aren't those predominantly white, affluent, countries with little to no immigration issues, or massive economic gaps? I would love to see that man's Utopian ideals succeed in the world I teach in...perhaps I am about to. Doubtful though.
The idea is that kid will perform daily tasks as nothing more than "practice" for their summative tests. Daily tasks will not be graded, but supposedly kids will be so eager to do well on their big tests, that they'll be willing to do endless amounts of ungraded work that I ask of them in order to prepare their minds for summatives. Excuse me? Have you met kids? Have you ever spent time with them? Have you met humans in general for that matter?
Kids work for treats the way puppies do. I ask a question about protons and you can hear crickets chirping in the background alongside heavy breathing that hasn't quite developed into a full fledged snore. I retrieve a bucket of candy from behind my desk, ask the same question, and all hands go up. I ask kids to complete a worksheet on balancing chemical equations and they stare at the cieling and paint their nails with highlighters...I make a board race of it, boys vs. girls, and they all begin to yell out answers. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear, "Is this for a grade?". Kids all over our nation get paid dollars for report card A's. They are bought games and ipods for mowing the lawn. They remain ungrounded if they make their bed. They suddenly start diving for volleyballs if threatened with suicides. I remember having no problem sitting up straight and being quiet in church the minute my mom said, "Do we need to go outside?" (code for spanking). My 7th grade volleyball C-team lost their first three games, so 3 weeks ago I promised my them if they won I'd bring donuts the next morning...they've since won their last 3 games in a row. Kids need OUTSIDE motivation to do things. Now, this is not always in the form of bribery. I believe kids often perform tasks for glory, honor, attention from you or an audience, etc... But i think its few and far between that you'll find a kid who wants to learn, simply to learn...with no alternate agenda, without stirring up something or devising a plan in their basement.
And we could talk about the starving kids in Africa who walk 4 miles every morning to attend school because they are so eager to learn. Are they? I don't know, I haven't met them yet. But my guess is they are hoping to eat well and they are fully aware that education is the ticket to a better life for them. I would be very curious to know the level of discipline problems in 3rd world schools. Or how many assignments "go missing". I wonder how many "behavior intervention plans" kids are on in underdeveloped countries? This is a question I would love to find the answer to. Perhaps in Guatemala with my church this summer? Perhaps I'll send in an application to Invisible Children and go see for myself?
And what motivates you as an adult? How many people hate their jobs but continue to go everyday to keep their extrinsic paychecks coming? How many adults save their pennies for a sports car so that everyone will look at them and say "hey you're cool, you have a sports car!". I don't feel that I was ever that curious about learning for the sake of learning until maybe my later years in college? Even then, its was probably to lead me to a better grade or job, or not feel left out in social conversations.
It would be a real miracle if I knew how to get kids to desire learning about atoms and electron clouds with as much zeal as they have to conquer Modern Warfare II. But I haven't figured out how to do that. And you know what? Socially, its not cool to know about atoms, its cool to be the kid in your posse of friends that can win video games quickly. Extrinsic Motivation. Glory. Power. I often wonder if my job isn't so much to create a "joy of learning"...as much as it is to come up with fun ways to "trick them into learning".
Kids like games, competition, rewards, attention. They get excited when I get excited. Sometimes all I have to do is raise my eyebrows/voice one octave, smile, and they perk up and listen. (also similar to pups). I think, the sooner all these adults that get PHD's and write books actually start spending lots of time with kids, asking them questions, getting to know them and their motivations, finding out what stirs them up...then the sooner we'll actually implement policies that make sense.
