Authentic Motivation in Schools: A brief treatise on motivation and the modern education system

Motivation is a frequently-discussed topic among educators. Teachers are especially concerned with motivating students, because clearly, people learn better when they are motivated. But not all motivation is the same. In educators’ discussion of motivation, there is rarely a discussion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, two qualitatively-different kinds of motivation that social psychologists say are in conflict.

Schools and classrooms are held together by the lesser type of motivation, extrinsic motivation, for many reasons, but certainly not because it is the best (or only) way.

As the students are bombarded every day with an endless barrage of psychological tricks to get them working, they begin to believe that learning is a means to an end. A high-stakes system of punishments and rewards turns them submissive and resentful, and away from becoming life-long learners.

Classrooms and school systems must better accommodate students as they are and as they wish to be. We can and should change the system so that it becomes the norm, not the exception, for students to love what they’re doing. The research and reasoning tell us that better learning will follow.