REWARDS OF LEARNING
Experts in the field of education like to tell the story of an old man who was bothered by the noise of boys playing in his neighbourhood. He offered to pay each boy a dollar to shout louder. The boys were delighted. But on the second day the man said that his limited resources meant that he could pay the boys only 80 cents. And on each successive day, he paid them less, until he finally didn’t pay them anything. The boys got angry and stopped playing near his house. “We’re not going to make noise for nothing!” they said.
This story demonstrated an important point. When we reward children for doing something they enjoy, like playing a game, we destroy their natural desire to do that thing. This is particularly clear in the field of education. If we want our children to learn, we kill their natural curiosity and desire to learn when we offer them a reward.
Yet both parents and teachers often “bribe” children to learn by offering rewards. A mother may offer her ten-year-old daughter sweets if she finishes reading a library book or a film for doing all her homework. In goal, not the learning. The greater the emphasis on marks – by teachers, the schools and the universities – the harder the student will work to get the “right answer”. But a lot of strategies for getting the right high school, the reward is the mark. In such a system, according to psychologists, the mark becomes the answer aren’t good strategies for learning – like studying only the material you need for tests.
Educational experts have recommended changing the system of rewards, so that every student can excel.
FROM: http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/jocelyn/others/the-rewards-of-learning/ ACCESSED: 29 October, 2011
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