This essay focuses on express their moral motivation. They believe that their work is about nurturing relationships, developing individual talents,
They deserve, and must be given, the opportunity to strive for the stars. 4 Teach to Develop Talent It’s not that we didn’t start out with the right WHY. Teachers still do enter the profession to “make a difference.” They believe that their work is about nurturing relationships, developing individual talents, and about inspiring their students, not incentivizing them. Given the opportunity, teachers express their
motivation to make a difference, be a role model, to change lives.8 And they also express their frustration with the current derailment of their mission. How did this occur? Largely because school systems have fallen prey to the mistaken belief that incentives, the carrots and the sticks, would achieve our long-term goals. According to Sinek, “There are only two ways to influence behavior; you can manipulate it or you can inspire it.”9 When our WHY is derailed, “manipulation rather than inspiration fast becomes the strategy of choice to motivate behavior.”10 Incentives are short-term tactics used to produce long-term outcomes, and they do produce results, if only for the short term.
rewards (bonuses, raises, merit pay), but they are also emotional, coming in the form of fear, peer pressure, promises, or the allure of something new or different. So, What’s Wrong With Incentivizing if It Works? Do our kids love learning, coming to school to be inspire, and wanting to inspire? If so, they’ll be more productive, creative, and innovative; they’ll be happier, healthier, and achieve more—in short, they can grow up to change the world. Manipulation through incentivizing, on the other hand, turns learning into—using. It is the language of business—a series of singular “transactions” . This is that may work in the short term but builds no “brand loyalty” to learning.11 .
gains from incentives is ruining our health,12 not to mention our relationships, creativity, and innovation. Daniel Pink describes the oppositional effects of “carrot and sticks” incentives in his book Drive:
What Motivates Us: Given the opportunity, teachers express their moral motivation to make a difference, be a role model, to change lives.And they also express their frustration with the current derailment of their mission. ONE • Why Teach to Develop Talent? 5 Mechanisms designed to increase motivation can dampen it. Tactics aimed at boosting creativity can reduce it. Programs to promote good deeds can make them disappear. Meanwhile, instead of restraining negative behavior, rewards and punishments can often set it loose—and give rise to cheating, addiction, and dangerously myopic thinking.13