DanaC |
04-13-2010 04:16 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
(Post 648193)
I would posit you loved learning, not for the sake of it, but for the reward... the stimulation of your imagination and usefulness of the knowledge.
Whereas the money came without effort, every Friday.
If you had to earn the money, you might see the reward of pursuing it, but even now it comes as a result of pursuing what you want, and not it. Most people in the world don't have that option, and need the pursuit of money, or some equivalent, to survive. So it's not necessarily a bad thing to teach the children... in moderation, of course. ;)
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That was similar to my original point. The adult world works on a model in which work=wages. Kids may well see a dissonance between that and the expectations put on them by adults.
I realise that actually, kids get all sorts from their parents and that it costs those parents tens of thousands of pounds/dollars to raise them; however, they are not usually a part of that equation. It isn't a negotiation like it is in the adult world. They have no choice but to go through education, and they are expected to throw themselves at it, regardless of whether they actually enjoy it or not; regardless of whether they are in fact willing; and regardless of whether or not they consider it 'work'. They are expected, for the most part, to exert their energies on tasks set them by an adult, for no reward other than which is intrinsic: love of learning/satisfaction/fun etc.
We then expect them to leave that situation and move into the adult world in which few work for free, and work is primarily a negotiated relationship. For some kids (I was one of these) that move is uncomfortable and a world in which work = reward is an alien concept. For others, being held in a situation where their work is expected and demanded but not compensated, may seem unfair and unreasonable when they can see through the window into an adult world, where work is negotiated and compensated.
Those kids who feel the dissonance when they are children may well benefit from being able to engage in an early form of work and reward negotiation.
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