Dan Pink on Motivation

[ed4wb]

Overall, I'd have to agree with Mr. Pink's take on motivation. My experience in schools however, shows those institutions have a very counterproductive view of motivation. Just like business, they ignore the science.

[ed4wb]

I think Mr. Pink gives schools too much credit for how they understand motivation. In "The Schools Our Children Deserve" by Alfie Kohn, Mr. Kohn devotes a chapter to the issue of motivation ("Getting Motivation Wrong"). In a nutshell, learning, desire to learn, and performance is diminished by use of grades, gold stars, rankings...

Creative task performance goes down when students know they are being graded, precisely the kind of thinking Mr. Pink argues is so important in an era of AbAsAuto.