Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 The future and its discontents
- 2 Motives as emotions
- 3 Motives as thoughts
- 4 Self-worth and the fear of failure
- 5 Achievement anxiety
- 6 The competitive learning game
- 7 Motivational equity and the will to learn
- 8 Strategic thinking and the will to learn
- 9 An immodest proposal
- 10 Obstacles to change: The myths of competition
- Appendix A Mastery learning
- Appendix B Cooperative learning
- References
- Indexes
7 - Motivational equity and the will to learn
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 The future and its discontents
- 2 Motives as emotions
- 3 Motives as thoughts
- 4 Self-worth and the fear of failure
- 5 Achievement anxiety
- 6 The competitive learning game
- 7 Motivational equity and the will to learn
- 8 Strategic thinking and the will to learn
- 9 An immodest proposal
- 10 Obstacles to change: The myths of competition
- Appendix A Mastery learning
- Appendix B Cooperative learning
- References
- Indexes
Summary
Be happy in your work.
colonel situ in pierre boulle, The Bridge over the River KwaiIt was inevitable that Colonel Situ's advice would fail to move the British prisoners under his control. After all, the work in question was building a railroad bridge that would advance Japan's cause in World War II, and to comply – happily or not – would mean collaborating with the enemy. As a result, Situ had few motivational cards to play. Yet he needed British help. At first he sought to persuade the prisoners by increasing their food ration. Later, when these positive inducements failed, Situ applied the principle of negative reinforcement. By resuming work the prisoners could escape brutal beatings. Still British cooperation was only half-hearted and punctuated by numerous acts of sabotage.
Situ's frustration compellingly illustrates what we already know about achievement dynamics: The quality of one's effort, whether it be enthusiastic engagement, timid reluctance, or active resistance, depends largely on the reasons for performing. Clearly, defiance and anger are a poor basis on which to build anything – not bridges and certainly not the future.
In the first six chapters we explored the consequences of using competition as a means to motivate students, and in the process were led to investigate the complex relationship between school achievement, on the one hand, and fear-of-failure dynamics and anxiety, on the other – all thanks to the perspective provided by drive theory.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Making the GradeA Self-Worth Perspective on Motivation and School Reform, pp. 156 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992