In our course we had the opportunity to read a powerful article “Punished by Rewards” by Alfie Kohn. This article deeply affected the way I view my classroom.
Alfie Kohn explains that punishments and rewards are things that we do to students rather than with. By providing rewards and consequences we take away students own ability to construct genuine desire to learn. He explains that rewards are just as aversive in the long run as punishments; they are both methods of controlling students’ behaviors. According to Kohn, rewards are most damaging when students already intrinsically enjoy the task. He further explains that even when students are uninterested, this does not give us a license to “treat kids like pets” and supply rewards for behaviors. Instead, we should rethink the task itself. Social psychology demonstrates that the more you reward someone for a behavior, the more they attribute that interest to receiving the reward, and the less intrinsically interested they become. He explains that 70 different studies show that extrinsic motivation including grades and praise, are not only ineffective over the long haul, but also counterproductive; they reduce the desire to learn. Further, when offered a reward quality of work can decline with rewards. Kids deserve an engaging curriculum and a caring atmosphere. Kohn explains that we shouldn’t confuse motivation with compliance. Motivation is something kids start out with, they begin life intrinsically motivated to learn. Positive feedback should be informational not a reward. We can praise students, but not to control behavior, but to inform them of their progress. When we reward students they begin to ask themselves “What do the teachers want me to do?” and “What will I get for doing it?” rather than “What kind of person do I want to be? And “What kind of classroom do we want to have?”
One of the arguments raised by the interviewer is that lower-achieving students don’t have as many opportunities for rewards and rewards should be in place for even the slightest bit of growth. Kohn discourages this non-genuine rewarding. He explains that students use this information as evidence of their low ability. Alderman confirms this phenomenon. Rewarding students for minimal tasks confirms their beliefs that they are low ability. Kohn discusses the three “C’s” of motivation; content, community, and choice. In order to strength intrinsic motivation in your classroom you need to ensure that the material and lesson is worth learning. Next, you need to develop a cooperative learning environment in which kids feel safe to ask for help and care about one another. Finally, teachers must ensure that students are asked to make decisions about what they are doing, how, and with who, and why they are doing it. I am going to use these three C’s to influence my lesson planning process. I am also going to begin phrasing praise as informational feedback rather than as a reward.
This was one of the most interesting articles I have read and it has profound implications for my classroom instruction. First, let me start with the ways that I agree with the article. Kohn explains that all people have had the experience of loving to do something innately, then having that behavior rewarded by pay or other incentives, and subsequently losing the initial love of doing it. I had this experience with basketball. I played basketball most of my life and always loved it. I always played for fun and practiced hard because I enjoyed practicing hard. When I played in college it took on different connotations. No longer was I choosing to go to practice, I had to go to practice. I spent upwards of 8 hours a day practicing, lifting, and working out. I spent weekends on road trips and holidays in hotel rooms on the road. Largely my life revolved around my basketball career. I remember going to the NCAA tournament my freshman year and having to turn in all of my final papers earlier. Two of my professors docked points from my grade because I missed class, even though it was for a tournament in which I was representing the school. Of course, I was really excited that we made it to the NCAA tournament and I was really excited to be heading off to play in it, however, I couldn’t shake the feeling of obligation. Slowly the feeling got worse. As I had to make sacrifices like not being able to go home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, not being able to attend classes that conflicted with practice schedule, and missing prominent speeches on campus because I was at practice, basketball slowly lost the intrinsic reward it once held. Now that I was being rewarded for it and being expected to participate rather than choosing to, I lost some of the intrinsic motivation I originally had. Interestingly, I played basketball for 18 years straight, after college I have begun playing ultimate Frisbee and soccer, but have not entered a basketball league since I graduated.
I largely agree that providing extrinsic rewards for classroom behaviors is inspiring compliance not motivation; however I disagree that it is so black and white. You don’t have to be just intrinsically motivated nor just extrinsically motivated. You can be either, and learn to develop either. In my social psychology class we are learning how initial compliance can lead to internalization of behavior and eventually intrinsic motivation to do the behavior. For example, you may choose to do something like stop smoking for a reward or to avoid punishment: This is compliance. However, over time, other secondary rewards result from this behavior (i.e. wake up without a sore throat, have better smelling breath, more money, etc) and you begin to value these secondary rewards that were a product of the initial behavior. You may continue to do this behavior for the inherent rewards it offers. Essentially, everything we do is for a reward. We may learn because it makes us feel good, happy, excited, but somewhere along the way, learning may lose those positive connotations. Can’t teachers reward positive learning behaviors such as studying or doing homework, then as secondary rewards start to happen for the students such as they become happier in school, have better relationships with teachers and parents, remove the rewards and allow the behavior to continue as chosen?
