They take small steps in their own classroom to make things better for their students, even if those small steps aren't officially endorsed by the authorities. And they don’t try to subvert merely for its own sake. They don’t aim to obliterate the entire system. QUESTION: What can we as educators do to make it better?ĭANIEL PINK: As for what educators can do, one thing I’ve noticed over the years as a student, parent, and observer is that the very best teachers - the teachers students remember decades later - are strategic subversives. Doing it in a system that sometimes seem designed to thwart it is harder still. Fostering intrinsic motivation is inherently difficult. Many teachers are trained to do just that, in fact.

Sometimes it’s easier to push for control with rewards and punishments and more severe forms of classroom management. The second reason is that this approach is harder. Too often the rules and structures imposed by state legislatures don’t allow for movement in this direction described in the book. The first is that teachers - the people who know what motivates students and who understand these principles the best - don’t make policy. Why do you think this is?ĭANIEL PINK: Progress is slow for lots of reasons - but two stand out. QUESTION: I t has been 12 years since the book was published and we still ascribe to old principles on motivation, especially within education.

In preparation for the discussion I contacted Daniel Pink and ask two questions related to education and motivation.

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