Brave Humans

The other day, my five-year-old said to me, “Mom, wouldn’t it be awful if we could all do everything perfectly?” Having spent the day sorting through a mass (mess?) of data for my dissertation, I was thinking, “Actually, honey, no, I’d like everything to go smoothly.”

But I knew where she was coming from. She’s just starting to learn to skate, and she’s having the time of her life. On her initial outing to the rink, I thought we’d last about 5 minutes; she was slip-sliding all over the place, falling on her face, on her knees, on her bottom, again and again…then after about 10 minutes, she didn’t want to hold hands anymore. By the end of an hour, she could skate half the length of the rink without falling. Now, a few visits later, and she can skate the circumference of the rink without falling. Well, sometimes.

But she LOVES the process of learning to skate. Every time she falls, she has a big grin and scrambles back up. She’s seeing her progress, and it’s rewarding. She loves what she’s doing. Each time she does it, she gets better, and it’s totally internal motivation. Neither my husband nor I am permitted to verbally reinforce her, because she’s identified a jinx; every time we say “good job,” she falls. (No kidding. Every time.) Therefore, it’s all her…

There’s a lot of things my daughter loves. School, for instance. I remember growing up in the northeast and being ecstatic when there’d be a snowstorm, and we’d get a day off from school. Now I can’t even enjoy that vicariously… she’s actually disappointed when there’s a snow day. “Oh, darn, I love my school.” Not that she’s bored at home… there are Barbies, and paint, and the computer, and, oh, yeah, did I mention ice skating? But my child wants to be in school.

I do have a point here, other than “my daughter is amazing.” In the February 12 issue of Time magazine there was an interview with Bill Gates. In response to a question about “better learning through technology,” Gates downplayed the role of technology and replied, “Learning is mostly about creating a context for motivation.”

Now, I’m writing this on a Macintosh, so Bill Gates does not pop up on my radar screen very often. I think his views on education, however, are dead-on. For children to engage in any meaningful learning, they need to be motivated in some way. It’d be wonderful if, in school, children wanted to learn for the sake of learning. Realistically, though, that’s often not going to happen in traditional schools. Still, that doesn’t mean that educators shouldn’t try to cue in to what motivates students. It can vary greatly, and it isn’t always obvious to us (sometimes, actually, it’s quite obscure).

The following anecdote is rather interrupts lengthy, but I really want to include it because it’s a terrific illustration of how motivation can be highly personal. (It also, unfortunately, makes me look like a dunce. Oh, well.) I was teaching second grade; the practice in that school was to keep students in at playtime if their daily work was not done. I was not comfortable doing that, but who was I to rock the boat? Anyway, I had one student who regularly would not complete his work by playtime. Yet he placidly sat in the classroom, working, while his peers whooped it up outside. Finally, one day, out of frustration, I said, “Why don’t you just get your work done on time? Wouldn’t you rather be outside?” (I mean, this was a no-brainer. Kids LOVE recess.) The boy looked at me and answered, “No. Playtime is boring. There’s nothing to do.”

I may have stopped breathing at this point, because such a great truth was revealed to me: PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT! For whatever reason, this child did not want playtime (even though he should have been outside, getting fresh air…etc.). Consequences that would work with almost any other child on the face of the planet made no impression on this youngster. That incident made me turn over a new leaf in my classroom…

That was the last day any child in my class stayed in at playtime. (School practice be damned! I was the teacher of these kids, that’s who I was!) From then on, everyone was responsible for getting his or her assignments done by recess, however that worked for the individual. The choice was up to each child. Some children chose to come in and start working first thing in the morning while others were having choice time. Some took work to lunch to finish up after they’d eaten. Most children just followed the typical daily schedule and had no problem finishing. The responsibility was out of my hands and in theirs. I was no longer policing them. I expected them to finish within a certain time; it was up to them to determine how that was done. I know it sounds too good to be true, but this policy worked so well I seldom had to deal with a student who had incomplete work.

So…back to Bill Gates and his “context for motivation.” Why might a child want to learn something if the learning is not intrinsically motivated? Well… maybe a seventeen-year- old just wants to graduate and will put up with homework and exams if he can keep that goal in mind. Maybe working on a computer will help a reluctant mathematician. Perhaps a struggling writer will benefit from nontraditional forms of writing, such as journals or cartoons. The list goes on and on… and should, because PEOPLE ARE DIFFERENT.

I know this is an overwhelming task for the public school system; trust me, I’ve been there both as a teacher and as a researcher. I know the responsibilities, limitations, and challenges. But I also know from experience that there’s no “one size fits all” educational system, especially if we want learning that’s going to stick around past an exam. This is a huge challenge for the public school system. I seriously question whether it’s possible without an overhaul of the entire system. Until that revolution comes, I’d like teachers and parents to help children discover their goals, motivations, and passions and learn how to harness them.

This topic brings to mind Grant’s reaction piece to Murray’s views on education and IQ.

Nowhere in Murray’s proposal does he suggest how we’re supposed to get students to agree to their placement, whether in vocational school or in an elite academy. Even top students must want to learn; it’s not just underachievers who struggle with motivation. All of us can use a boost when there’s something difficult or uninteresting for us to learn. For me it was calculus; I never did learn to care about it during university, and I have the grades to prove it. What was it for you?

Be brave. Be human.
Susan