A good discussion after school yesterday on the book, Punished by Rewards. I’m really enjoying these discussions as I learn a lot by hearing other people’s ideas and having them force me to sharpen my own. The great thing about the discussions we have is that not everybody agrees with each other or the author. That’s what a faculty ought to be doing, I believe!
For those who wanted to be there and missed it (or maybe even those who had no plans to be there in the first place), here is a brief summary of what was discussed. I’ll try to be as fair as possible in my summary, but it is my blog, after all. If you don’t like it, post a response! J
Here are the some of the issues that came up:
Authority – Kohn’s position on authority was quite clear – adults ought not to impinge on the autonomy of a child. Setting aside the practical impossibilities of that (it is impossible for anyone to be completely autonomous, even if he tried) there were concerns that this was blatantly unbiblical. God seems to ordain a hierarchy of authority and expects us to submit to it. How, though, is that authority to relate the individuals below? In other words, how much autonomy should be granted to an individual by a rightful authority?
Assessment – Do grades motivate students to do better work? Our anecdotal comments were mixed. AP English students seemed to think the idea would free them from an unnecessary burden that had little to do with the quality of work they would produce. Even if they were convinced eliminated traditional grades would work, though, teachers still wrestled with how to implement such a policy given the current system which assumes grades will exist (parent expectations, college admissions, scholarships, etc.)
God and Rewards – A lot of time was spent on what we thought was a critical point – is God a rewarder by nature? How we answer this question really determines much of how a Christian ought to think about the whole book. A number of scripture passages were shared in which scripture itself describes God as a reward giver for those who seek him, those who are merciful, those who are peacemakers, and many, many others.
A counterpoint was made, however, that these might be different kinds of rewards than what Kohn is talking about. Kohn seems to criticize rewards that are superfluous to the child’s action (i.e., do your chores without complaining and you will get a sticker); whereas God’s rewards seem to be directly related to the action. In other words, if you plant corn in the spring and then reap a harvest, the harvest is the “reward”, or natural outworking, of the hard work. Similarly, when God rewards righteousness, it is with things that come as a result of righteousness, namely expanded fellowship with him.
The discussion, due to time constraints, dealt very little with the actual research Kohn submits, which I think is formidable and we would be remiss in not considering. He gives mountains of evidence that providing extrinsic rewards results in the long run in lower motivation, productivity, creativity and other valuable traits. It is easy to dismiss this research as “secular,” and I am sure there is counter research available (there always is), but I’m not convinced that we can easily ignore what Kohn offers.
Our next discussion will be in early spring and again at the end of the year so keep an eye out for those. The two books we are looking at doing are Silence, by Shusaku Endo and When I Don’t Desire God, by John Piper. Silence is a powerful novel (for those who like stories!) about the persecution of Christians in shogun Japan. The title of the book becomes unsettling as you read it. Endo, a Christian, is one of the most lauded authors in Japan. The book is not directly related to Christian education but a great book that should be read. Piper’s book, on the other hand, has things that speak directly to the milieu we work in every day.
I’ll get dates and signups to everyone shortly.
posted by Troy McIntosh @ 12:51 PM
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