Intro

I think the research by Harlow and Deci is intriguing. If I were a betting man, I would’ve lost on this one. However, it makes you ponder how often we are driven intrinsically, even when we don’t even realize it. Studies do show the huge psychological rewards a person achieves by accomplishing a task, or doing a deed, or giving to someone else, without having that physical reward to receive in return for their efforts.

I feel that today schools are typical in the fact they use that physical reward to motivate students too often. If all the kids in the school read a combined 1,000,000 pages they get a pizza party, or the principal shaves his head, or whatever. We’ve all been there. Some kids are going to work hard because they want to see how dumb the principle looks with a shaved head. Other kids will feel, “Ya know, I don’t like reading, what few pages I do read really won’t matter, why read?” But what happened to motivating kids to read more because it increases vocabulary and spelling, it sparks imagination, it increases knowledge? This needs to be put back into schools, especially at a young age.

To Stasia: I think you’re right about the creativity, and empathy, and making the educational experience fun. The best teachers I had did just that, but they did it without putting too much “sugar-coating” on it all. I was rewarded for doing well in school, and it wasn’t just candy and a good report card (physical rewards). I think one of the best rewards I could get was the notion my teacher and my parents were proud of me (intrinsic rewards) even if it wasn’t an A+.