I stumbled across an interesting entry over on Edwahoo’s blog that brought up an issue worth consideration. Here I offer only further thought and reflection, no solutions.
The American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of motivation is essentially worthless. Who can make anything out of this:
mo·ti·va·tion
I strongly dislike definitions which presuppose an understanding of the word you are looking up.
Obviously, there is a root idea of motion. So my definition, which is as good as anything I could find, shall be: that which sets something in motion, or compels to action.
I bring this up because motivation is such a tremendous issue in society today. Motivational speakers make big bucks speaking in business, schools, clubs and even homeschool groups. Many of the blogs I read mention motivation (or lack thereof) as a significant factor in their home education. Parents seem to be craving knowledge on how to motivate their children to do just about anything. In fact, a simple google search brings over 2 million websites (200,000 more than googling motivational speakers).
I would be quick to argue that it is good for students to be motivated. But I also believe great care must be taken in our attempts to motivate them. All of us should act with a driving force, a sense of purpose, a set of values which compels us to action. But from whence do you derive your motivation?
Intrinsic motivation comes from within. It is your heart, your conscious, your will acting to effect your environment. It is acting out of conviction and your personal judgment of the right course of action in a given situation. Often, however, our primary motivation is extrinsic, or external. We set rulers over ourselves. We choose our course of action based on what others will think or the rewards/punishments that we imagine will result. Ironically, we seem to serve as our own extrinsic motivator as we set up our own rewards to give ourselves when we do what we think we should be doing.
Is this because we truly are what we eat? Are we merely a product of our environment? If we are successful in altering the external environment of an individual, will we be able to truly produce a better internal character in the individual? This is the main tenet of socialism…alter the environment and we can shape the individual.
Or is it because we, too, are indoctrinated somewhat into this system?
How can we go about appealing to the internal aspects of our children? How can we inspire them so that they form convictions which they will act on, despite the environmental influences going on around them.
Our sermon on Sunday related a story that really affected me. A man was beaten nearly to death in Iraq. His aggressors demanded he renounce his faith. He refused and the beatings worsened until he was finally left for dead. Friends found him, and luckily he survived. After recovering, he praised God. Not for sparing him and aiding in his recovery, but for giving him the strength to not deny his Lord in the face of death.
He was not able to confess Christ in this moment because of any perceived benefit or fear of punishment. He was motivated by a strong conviction that compelled him to speak the truth, despite the circumstances.
education, homeschooling, home school, motivation, parenting
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Aaaah, very good thoughts here Dana. Yes, truly ONLY the Lord can SAVE our children. We can as you so aptly pointed out in your other post *narrow the way* for them, but eventually we must leave them at the altar. Watchman Nee writes about this concept too in one of his books (I don’t remember which one offhand, as I’ve read quite a few of his). But, I remember that I felt such a release when I read his words, so full of freeing Truth as a parent. And so basicly simply. He said, {my paraphrase} “We can share the Gospel, but we must not take it upon ourselves to save a soul. It is an act of supernatural birth, and only the Holy Spirit can perform that miracle…” *exhales*… Thank you Lord, that YOU will draw and eventually direct our childrens’ hearts.
This does motivate me to PRAY.
love & blessings~
Dana, I followed this link from Renae’s post on motivation. I’ll have to browse through your series. I’m very interested in this idea right now, trying to get a handle on how I’m going to approach the issue of student motivation. I somehow cringe at the idea of external motivators used at the level they are in schools… How do I go about stimulating a child’s intrinsic desire to perform, to apply themself to a subject, to do their very best? I’m listening to an interview from Andrew Pudewa and just printed out Carole Adams’ article The Christian Idea of The Child.
So, I have to tell you, I’m going back to the classroom. I haven’t posted anything about this yet, because I’m not sure how to go about this. I wasn’t going to say a word, but I’m on a lot of people’s “homeschool blog roll.” And I won’t be homeschooling this year. I’m teaching 6th gr. at a private Christian school and my kids will be attending. But I live in a very small town with only so many private schools and I’m such a security freak I don’t want people knowing where I teach and where my kids attend school. So, what to do? I do feel like I need to let my readers know that I won’t be homeschooling, but need to give some kind of explanation. I’d of course hate for anyone to think I’m in the public school system, yet I don’t want to say exactly what I’m doing. Am I being too paranoid??!
Coming from a homeschool mindset, I have so many hurdles to overcome in trying to implement my ideas into a regular classroom, but I’m going to be attempting this. Just getting past the administration may be the biggest hurdle! But I was very open in my interview about my views on education and somehow they still hired me.
Dana, could you email me with your thoughts on this? I can talk to you more about why we’re doing this and what I hope to accomplish. blessedinthewest@yahoo.com