What about the large body of research showing that if you promise kids a tangible reward for an enjoyable activity, they tend to lose their interest in the activity and start focusing on the reward as the be all and end all. What about in addition the large body of research that has found that the more a topic interests you, the more you learn, the more deeply you understand it, and the longer you remembers it. And what about the research, as well as the experience by teachers and folks like Alice, showing that kids are eager and curious about the world, and love to become competent and acquire skills? All this research points toward spending our resources on high-quality teachers who can capitalize on kids’ intrinsic interest in learning, and show them at the same time why it’s in their interest also to learn subjects they’re not initially interested in?
Much of this research is referenced in books I’ve co-written like Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning, and Pressured Parents, Stressed-out Kids — as well as this oped in the LA Times last week: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-grolnick5-2008sep05,0,2652576.story
