A Question for Bill Gates: How Can We Motivate Students When Their Futures Are Bleak?
I am trying to make sense of the education reform project, which seems a mass of contradictions. On the one hand, we have a seemingly utopian project with bold pronouncements about the boundless capacity of all students - even those with serious learning disabilities - to succeed on ever more difficult tests. On the other hand, we have tests that are apparently intentionally designed to fail in the realm of two thirds of our students. I am focusing on the thinking of one of the chief architects and financial sponsors of corporate reform, Bill Gates. His vision guides one of the largest philanthropies in the world, which has made education reform its number one priority within the US, so his thinking has huge consequences for our schools.
As I wrote yesterday, Gates seems to be awakening to the role "student motivation" plays in the capacity for students to learn - at least when technology is involved. This is a huge and important insight, because it is the clue that tells us there are limits to the degree to which we can manipulate others. Human agency is ultimately a determining factor. And once we begin to explore the motivation of our students - or lack thereof, we can learn some very important things.
I think one of the key pieces that Gates has missed with his approach to education is the connection between students' motivation and their life prospects. This goes beyond the material conditions of poverty that directly impinge on students' capacity to learn - neighborhood violence, hunger, unstable housing and so on. This has to do with what students perceive are their own opportunities in life. These perceptions are influenced by what students see around them. How are older relatives and friends in the neighborhood doing after graduating from high school? Is the promised path of high school diploma, followed by four-year degree, actually working out? Or are they seeing older peers forced to drop out, or graduating saddled with debt, without the high-paying jobs that A Question for Bill Gates: How Can We Motivate Students When Their Futures Are Bleak? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher: