Education, Motivation, and Success 1

Educational Institutions, Motivated Learning, and Life Success

Jeremy A. Lacy
Glen Allen High School

Education, Motivation, and Success 2

Introduction
We all have an interest in education says Sir Ken Robinson, and one must agree with
him. Education is one of the most controversial topics in debate circles today. Education has
profound impacts on the lives of students and how they learn throughout their lifetime, as well as
interesting implications on the motivation levels and achievement rates of students.
Before exploring the concept of education and its relationship to motivation and success,
one must ask the question why do we have education? The answer to that question can be
found by researching the purpose of education throughout the years and how the needs of society
have dictated the structure of formal education since the institutions conception. Education has
been a crucial part of every successful society in history. Just take a look at ancient Greece and
Rome or at the early American colonies, one common factor among these societies is their ability
to educate their young people. We need not waste time discussing the education systems of the
past, regardless of how fascinating they truly are. Instead, our focus will be on the education
system of todays society and the implications that this system has on our learners.

History of Educational Institutions

As previously stated, educational institutions have been around since the founding of the
American colonies, but the modern day education system has its origins in the industrial
revolution of the late 19th century. During this time, literacy was a must and semi-skilled workers
were needed to fill positions in factories and maximize productivity. Education was very much a
training tool preparing people to do repetitive tasks while sitting in the same position all day.
John W. Meyer of Stanford University explains how education served a purpose of processing
individuals preparing them to act in society (1977). While education is meant to instill

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democratic ideals into people so that they will behave properly in society, it is and can be so
much more of a valuable tool than that.
Since then, education has evolved into a new institution. The education system today is
something to marvel at. It is something that the American people should be proud of. It has also
become a place where American parents should feel comfortable sending their children, knowing
that they are safe and being well-taught. That is not to say the education system today is by any
means perfect. Actually, there are a number of flaws present in our education system today,
especially when it comes to hindering creativity and motivation of students. It appears that an
epidemic of learners are graduating from school with no intrinsic motivation to further their
learning. Because of the often negative impact of educational institutions on learners curiosity,
motivation, and attitudes towards learning, it is essential for people to consciously strive to
become lifelong learners in order to be as happy and successful as possible.

Issues within Education

In order to understand the effects of the educational institution on learners motivation
and achievement, we must first look at the subjects of education: children. Children have
absolutely extraordinary capacities for innovation and creativity and are almost always curious
creatures from birth. Children will use their imaginations endlessly and will often surprise adults
with their ability to think divergently and originally. Why then, do young adults come out of the
education system year after year lacking creativity and curiosity? Are students bound to lose
these qualities, or are they conditioned out of them? The great leader in education, Sir Ken
Robinson, states that all children have tremendous talents, and we [educators or education
system] squander them, pretty ruthlessly (2006). The burden of guilt seems to immediately fall

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on the educators. This is not entirely fair, however, as educators work tirelessly for the wellbeing and intellectual development of their beloved students. If we did a little deeper, we find
that it is more suitable to suggest that the education system in which teachers operate is the
culprit. That begs the question, what exactly is wrong with it?
One of the first issues with the system of education today is that many highly talented,
brilliant, creative people think they are not, because the thing they are good at wasnt valued in
school, according once again to Robinson (2006). Robinson is explaining how education is
biased in a way towards the math and science disciplines. One of the faults of our education
system is the obvious tendency to steer children away from the arts and humanities. Robinson
suggests that we need to educate in diverse ways, and if we dont then we will continue to
educate people out of their creative capacities (2006). This is the great fear of cognizant
educators today that our current institution is conditioning learners out of their naturally
advantageous predisposition to intrinsically motivated learning (curiosity) and divergent thinking
(creativity). Leaders in the realm of education must make sacrifices in order to protect the
creative capacities of their students.

Creativity, Diversity, and

Before exploring what can be done to enhance these qualities in children instead of
inhibit them, we must first understand exactly what these qualities are and why they are
important. As previously mentioned, it is worth noting the amazing capacities for innovation and
creativity present in children, but what exactly is creativity? A simple but effective way to define
creativity is the process of having different ideas that have value (Robinson, 2006). Notice that
word different. Then, think about the education system we are all familiar with. Does our

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education system encourage students to think, act, and be different? Education as we know is not
based on diversity, but is instead based on conformity. Students are routinely tested on how well
they can memorize specific information, in specific ways, targeting specific skills. This does not
seem like the type of environment where creativity can flourish.
In his 2013 TedTalk titled How to Escape Educations Death Valley, Ken Robinson lays
out three principles under which human life flourishes all three of which are contradicted by
the education system. The first is that humans are naturally different and diverse. We can see this
everywhere we look from youth on up to retirement, humans are completely different.
Robinson claims, however, that education is based on conformity, not diversity (Robinson, 2006)
and therefore education refuses to recognize this condition of human life. The second principle
under which human life flourishes is an environment that nourishes curiosity. Robinson calls
curiosity the engine of achievement and he states if you can light the spark of curiosity, they
[students] will learn without any other assistance (2006). Instead of encouraging curiosity, the
education system encourages compliance. Thirdly, human life is inherently creative and
education should awaken and develop these creative powers. What we have instead is a culture
of standardization (Robinson 2006). All of these factors contribute to the resistance of education
against the natural learning processes of the human mind. In a sense, we are working against
ourselves in trying to achieve our objectives.
Randy Bass has a similar message for leaders in education when he explains that one
key source of disruption in higher education is coming not from the outside but from our own
practices we are running headlong into our own structures (Bass, 2012). Because research has
enhanced our understanding of learning at an incredibly fast rate, we have now come to
understand that our systems are flawed. These flaws, detrimental as they may be, are

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opportunities for improvements and the stepping stones for previously unforeseen possibilities in
the realm of education.
Now that it has been established that the institution of education itself causes problems
among learners because of its tendency to conform students to a single standard, it is worth
discussing how we can reverse this process in the classroom and promote more creativity and
inspiration to learn.
The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesnt need to be
reformed it needs to be transformed. The key to this transformation is not to
standardize education, but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering
the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they
want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.
-

Ken Robinson, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

Autodidactism
One of the most fascinating topics in research on motivation is the concept of
autodidactic learning. An autodidact is someone who is self-taught. Often times we hear stories,
whether they be truth or legend, of people with amazing minds who claim to be entirely selftaught since childhood. Often times, people who once did poorly in school will find a passionate
calling and pursue that as a means to become highly educated. The means by which these people
acquire intellectual growth is worth studying because they are learning in the most natural way
possible. They allow their own curiosity and intrinsic motivation to learn drive them to new
solutions and higher levels of thinking. The Autodidactic Hall of Fame can be described as a
large group of Self-educated People Whove Made a [Significant] Difference in the world

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(Hayes, 1987). Just a few of the people listed include: Alexander Graham Bell, Agatha Christie,
Steve Jobs, Malcom X, John Rockefeller, and Orville and Wilbur Wright. Each of them all had
exceptional capacities for innovation and creativity, and they were all driven by a passion or a
curiosity. Interestingly enough, one common quality of all of these people is that they love to
read and write.

Benefits of Reading
We have all heard of the benefits of reading and writing for intellectual growth. A
common saying in school is reading is for the mind what exercise is for the body, and that is
very true. Yet, it seems that the average person still does not fully understand the amazing
benefits that there are to being an avid reader. Tai Lopez, a young entrepreneur who credits his
success to his conviction of reading a book a day, says that books are hidden treasure. He
explains how you have to go outward to find truth in books which are often a compilation of
the life lessons of successful people (Lopez, 2015). Lopez urges young people to start reading
books each and every day until you have accumulated enough knowledge to take you anywhere
you want to go. He looks at each piece of literature as a mentor it is a place he can go to learn
without having to make mistakes and figure it out for himself. The idea that books are
undervalued in American culture today is absolutely true. A single book, with a few great,
applicable ideas can transform your life. It seems, time and again, that reading leads to success. It
also seems that more and more children are putting down their books for other, less-engaging
activities.
There is another reason why books are great for learning. The nature of reading is
typically self-driven, meaning the person reading the book has complete autonomy over what is

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being read and therefore more motivation to learn about what they are reading. It is false to say
that everyone will enjoy every book they read, but it is true to say that people are much more
likely to learn when they are in control of what they are learning about. Books provide an
optimal amount of stimulation they challenge learners, but do not overwhelm them. According
to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, optimal level of stimulation creates the perfect environment for
learning to take place. A diagram to explain this concept is shown below.

Often times in an educational setting, students will be given a reading activity that is too
challenging, causing them to be anxious or overly aroused. Other times, students will not be
challenged enough, causing them to become bored. Both of these lead to resentment of reading
among students, which is why students should be encouraged to read books of their choice that

Education, Motivation, and Success 9

fit their own abilities. As shown above, the optimal level of stimulation will allow students to
reach a state of flow, where learning is maximized. This optimal level is achieved most
frequently in self-driven activities.
The tragedy of the 21st century education may be summed up in this: the tendency of
schools to create a distaste for reading (and learning in general) in their students. According to
the National Center for Education Statistics, 53% of 4th graders report that they enjoy reading and
do it almost every day, but by 8th grade this number sharply declines to 20% of the student
population (NCES, 2009). This trend needs to be reversed. Teachers must do whatever it takes to
ensure that students improve their attitudes towards the simple act of reading.

Metacognition
Another interesting topic which has recently popped up in education is the concept of
metacognition. Jennifer Livingston defines this concept as higher order thinking which involves
active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning (Livingston, 1997) and
Websters Dictionary defines it as an awareness and understanding of ones own thought
processes. In other words, metacognition is the act of thinking about thinking. Interestingly,
studies done by experts such as Jennifer Livingston and Robert Sternberg suggest that students
with higher metacognitive mastery do better in school because they learn more effectively.
According to Livingston, metacognition enables us to be successful learners. Students with
high metacognitive abilities typically use strategies to help themselves learn new material.
Understanding how you learn and practicing strategies to help yourself become a better learner is
one effective way for students to learn better (Sternberg, 1998). This begs the question: why isnt

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metacognition the ability to think about learning taught more frequently in schools. Once a
student masters how they are able to learn best, many new possibilities are opened to them.

Heuristics
There are other simple solutions which seem to have been overlooked by educators in
enhancing learning and creativity. One of these solutions is so simple that it is hard to believe it
is effective in enhancing creativity. According to the Iowa State University Center for Excellence
in Learning and Teaching, teachers must give students activities which target the heuristics
problem-solving areas of their brain. Such activities which engage heuristic thinking include:
brainstorming, sketching, forming analogies, and freewriting. Iowa States Center for ELT
claims that these very simple activities are underutilized in classrooms nationwide and that they
are excellent techniques for creative thinking and generating ideas. It makes one wonder why
so much class time is spent on passing along information when all a teacher needs to do to
activate divergent thinking patterns are the simple activities listed above.

Conclusion
Reading, metacognition, and heuristics are only the first steps in the transformation which
must take place in education today for students to increase their motivation, learning capacities,
and potential for future achievement. The future of the education system appears bright. With
many advancements and progressive steps already taken, there is reason to believe that the future
leaders who will emerge from Americas educational institutions will be brilliant and will have in
them a natural curiosity and creative capacity that will be unmatched by former generations.

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