Intrinsic Motivation & Montessori

Alfie Kohn, a phenomenal educator and author of books such as Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Reward and Punishments to Love and Reason, speaks about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation in the classroom and at home. Montessori philosophy emphasizes respect for the child's self-esteem and self-determination and de-emphasizes praise, adult approval, and performance-based rewards.  It takes a long time to learn how to give feedback that is free of personal attachment yet offers detail and attention.  At times, students say things like:  

"I have to get all my works done, or I can't play video games tonight."

"My mom said if I do ______ this week, she will buy me ________."

"My dad will pay me $____ for every math fact I learn."

A consistent message at home and school is vital to a sense of harmony and logic in your child.  At school, Montessori teachers encourage students to balance their activities and challenge themselves, yet we also remember the four other aspects of the person besides the intellectual: spiritual, emotional, physical, and social.  Teachers look at each child individually and avoid comparison, while also setting realistic goals with (not for) the child so s/he can feel successful.  The idea behind intrinsic motivation is to help build self-esteem, independence, and self-motivation in the child so s/he is motivated by interests, personal goals, and internal desires -- not money, punishment, and material rewards.  

Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, theorizes that changes within society are moving toward intrinsic motivation and away from external rewards.  Rewards may encourage improved performance or increased effort, but Pink and many contemporary scientists agree that results are short-sighted and may undermine the innate desires that often foster innovation, creativity, and fulfillment: "Rewards can deliver a short-term boost -- just as a jolt of caffeine can keep you cranking for a few more hours.  But the effect wears off -- and, worse, can reduce a person's longer-term motivation to continue the project." (p. 8)  Pink calls this the carrot and stick effect and identifies seven ways in which external rewards do not work:

They can extinguish intrinsic motivation.

They can diminish performance.

They can crush creativity.

They can crowd out good behavior.

They can encourage cheating, shortcuts, and unethical behavior.

They can become addictive.

They can foster short-term thinking. (p. 59)

The only case in which a reward or punishment is at all helpful is when the desired action is simply mechanical, requiring little or no cognitive ability or creativity (p. 62)  -- the opposite of learning, in or out of school. This message relates to our mission for the long-term benefit of children. We Montessori teachers guide children with practical life skills, intellectual inspiration, hands-on work (prior to abstraction), peaceful solutions, care for the environment and one another, and that Montessori phrase that echoes in my mind every day: “follow the child.”  Sometimes, teachers notice students rushing through their work, jumping to abstraction, or lacking depth in their studies.  Often this can be traced back to a misguided (and often adult-fostered) belief that quantity trumps quality.  As a Montessorian, I disagree: faster does not mean better.

Parents sometimes ask teachers, “How do I encourage my child without resorting to bribery?”  

• Rather than using a reward to motivate a child's behavior, emphasize the behavior you value and demonstrate how you honor that behavior in your own life.  
• Acknowledge virtues like consistency, concentration, honesty, and helpfulness.  Encourage balance and moderation, as well as following one’s passion and respecting that everyone works differently at his/her own pace.  These are the same actions that we Montessorians strive to model in the classroom. 

Adults are often interested in efficiency, not process, and ... often shift from doing too much for a child to nagging him/her about not being suddenly, completely independent. As Daniel Pink mentions in his book, extrinsic motivators perpetuate either compliance or defiance, because rewards and punishments require an authority making the choices.  Intrinsic motivators, on the other hand, involve either engagement or disengagement (p. 110), which allows the child to remain in charge of his/her own choices.  Adults can help guide, only when necessary, the inspiration at the heart of dignity, hard work, and concentration. Adults who model those virtues make a world of difference to children.

In the long run, sending your child to a Montessori school where s/he is guided in this manner and following through with your child in the same way at home makes an amazing impact on your child's life, without external motivators like money and groundings. Montessori students learn from the environment (which includes culture, problem-solving, and materials) to value their interests as the focus of their auto-education -- above and beyond the adult marketplace values of materialism. Individual pace, inspiration, and the wide arena of study available within the Cosmic Curriculum act as a primary drive in pursuing knowledge through openness to learning.  Using external motivators diminishes the value of education, altruism, and compassion by making it a chore for which a person must be "bought off" in order to perform.  Children learn now what to value for the rest of their lives.  Hopefully, with our help, they will lead with their hearts and minds, not simply follow the carrot.