The aims of education involve making each citizen a functioning member of society, but more importantly that function is determined by a self-motivated individual who has chosen their role and found interest in its pursuit.  Also, the pursuit of this goal must push the student to become a lifelong learner, forever gaining insight and perfecting their craft.  The grand aim of education, therefore, is to better oneself and subsequently better society through one’s own progress.  If a student is adequately prepared for the life that follows graduation, his or her impact upon society has the greatest potential to be positive; unfortunately, much contention exists as to what the aims of this preparation should be.

The words “standards” and “rigor” are mentioned ad nauseam without any real description as to their meaning or importance.  While it is critical to hold students to high expectations, it is also imperative to make the skills and content practical and applicable for students to fully engage their attention and efforts.  Self-motivation extends well beyond the hours spent in the classroom, well beyond graduation, and can only be fostered by making the lessons taught apply to the intrinsic goals of the student.  When a student doesn’t understand the purpose or importance of an exercise, there is often a disconnect between the expected work product and the performance of the student.  This apathy exists because the extrinsic value of the skill isn’t enough to satisfy the student’s intrinsic motivations.

In a recent incident, I had a student who refused to participate in an experiment concerning density.  He asked several questions easily answered had he read the procedure, and so I simply asked that he read the directions carefully, to which he responded that the lab was “stupid” and had “no point.”  It was clear to me that this student had failed to grasp that, while density is certainly an important concept to understand, the skills of following procedures, recording data, and making conclusions based on evidence were what the class was exercising.  After a brief conversation, it was clear that the student wanted to enter the military and not the fabulous science of density.  With his intrinsic motivation clear to me, I was able to make numerous connections to basic military training, as well as the importance of density in the aquatic operations of the navy.  These connections alone prompted not only an apology, but also a plea to complete the lab on the student’s time.  Often times, extrinsic pressure is not sufficient to motivate a student’s effort, and even if it were enough, the concern is that the student would quickly shed the knowledge as unimportant instead of invaluable.  How better to further society and usher in a bright future than to intrinsically motivate tomorrow’s generation of innovators, problem solvers, and leaders to accomplish the ideals they see to be the most important.  Sometimes it is as simple as listening to them instead of talking at them.