"Activities keep kids motivated"

In the Journal this morning, you find an article link sub req
by Winston Brooks.

In his essay, Supt. Brooks argues that "after school" activities
will keep students motivated to stay in school.

While I support his argument that we need more after school
activities, I would disagree that they have a profound effect on
motivation in school in general.

Most troubling about the argument that "it is all about after
school activities", is that it supplants the argument that every
aspect of the curriculum during the school day should be subject
to a great deal of scrutiny about the role it plays in motivating
students.

Every class, every subject must be examined in the light of its
effect on engaging students. Any offering, no matter how
valuable it seems in the long run, that acts to unmotivate or
disinterest students will cause as much harm as good.

It is not so much what a student learns, as it is that they grow
into decent human beings with the skill set necessary to become
life long learners.

If a student has the capacity to learn, they will have the
opportunity to learn what they need to know,
when they need to know it. It is possible for a child to
be an interested, motivated, and successful learner,
with no particular interest in history, or literature,
or maybe even in math.

The simple truth is that students will not learn anything
against their will.

The process is not one of "teaching", it is one of "learning".
There is no such thing as an unmotivated and disinterested
"learner", the concept is oxymoronic.

There needs to be a discussion of whether on not we really
need every child to be on the same page in every subject
on every day. It flies in the face of reason. It is only done
that way because that is the way it has always been done.

It is time to think outside the box.