'Shortchanged By Pay To Learn'

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English 10 Psychology professor at Clark University, Wendy Grolnick, and Santa Monica based writer, Kathy Seal, are coauthors of a newspaper article titled “Shortchanged by pay to learn”. In their article, the authors demonstrate their disbelief in the effectiveness of extrinsic motivation on students and argue that intrinsic motivation leads to better academic achievements on students. In fact, the authors state that “those who want to improve test scores and motivate students should stop throwing money at the problem so literally.” The authors directly state their beliefs on the matter, and frankly, I agree that school districts should promote the building of intrinsic motivation on students. I believe schools should encourage the building of intrinsic motivation on students because it has shown that students that participate in programs that build on intrinsic motivation do better in school than those students who do not. In the article “Shortchanged by pay to learn” co-authors Grolnick and Seal indicate that intrinsic motivation is a good alternative to improve student test scores. After explaining the mechanics of a study implemented on sixth grade teachers who were trained to foster the enjoyment of learning upon their students, the authors…show more content…
Rewarding students with money, toys and privileges for their academic achievements may seem as a reasonable way to improve the student’s academic performance, but the only way to genuinely motivate students to do good in school is through intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation encourages students to strive beyond their curriculum – it develops a passion for learning that can drive them to success in higher levels of education and will stay with them for the rest of their

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