Why
Montessori Teachers Don't Use Gold Stars, Grades or "Good jobs!" - a
Review on the book "Punished
by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn, a
well-researched, thought-provoking, LIFE CHANGING book.
''Rewards and punishments, to
speak frankly, are the desk of the soul, that is, a means of enslaving a
child's spirit, and better suited to provoke than to prevent deformities.''
-Maria
Montessori
We all want caring, empathetic children. But rewards have shown to NOT help children be more caring, empathetic or moral.
Most Montessori schools do not use grades,
gold stars or other rewards. Why?
Long before
behaviorists arrived on the scene, Maria Montessori shared her two-cents on
what rewards and punishments really do to the child. I have been amazed how
many times I have learned something "cutting edge" via the newest
books, courses, classes, or lectures, that Maria Montessori already knew. Oh
the power of observation!
While on my last
vacation, I had time to read a book! For the first time since the baby was born
I could read non-stop! The book I chose, well, I'm sure it screams "My
psychology major and love for teaching is showing!"
I read the book "Punished
By Rewards" by Alfie Kohn. As a Montessori teacher and a parent who
follows the Montessori philosophy in my home (best I can), it sounded like it
would confirm a lot of the practices I follow. What I found was extremely
informative and thought-provoking. As opposed to just a lot of anecdotal or
"because it feels good" references or stories, he had an abundance of
peer reviewed and scholarly reports and experiments that showed over and over
how much rewards damage our children behaviorally and educationally. By the end
of the book I was even forced to reevaluate some of my practices that I thought
were "Montessori" but were actually rewards/punishments in clever
"politically correct" disguises
While nearly
everyone (even behaviorists) agree that punishments do more harm than good,
most people don't realize that REWARDING children is just as manipulative and
just as flawed as punishing them. How
can rewarding children be flawed? Shouldn't they be rewarded for good behavior?
Don't they DESERVE rewards?
The author, by
pointing out study after study, experiment after experiment, says no. and I
tend to agree. So, are you ready to learn ? What about rewards can be so
counter-productive?
Why Rewards
Punish:
First of all, let us
get something straight. Rewards include anything that is deemed "positive
or enjoyable" that is given to someone in order to control their behavior.
This includes: grades, money, food treats, stickers, toys, empty praise like
"good job!", or anything else you use to bribe or manipulate someone
into complying with a demand or command.
Rewards,
while effective in getting people to comply with a command or change a behavior
in the short-term, or increase productivity in simple, Straightforward tasks, are dismally
ineffective in:
- increasing creativity (they actually hijack our
creativity and people are LESS creative when rewards are promised)
- Creating
LONG TERM CHANGE
(behaviors that are being rewarded tend to stop when the rewards stop, or
once the person gets used to the reward)
- Creating
moral or prosocial children (children who are rewarded for prosocial behavior like
sharing or not hitting have been shown to do these behaviors MORE OFTEN
when the rewarder is not present. A terrifying example of this is a study
that showed when children who were
rewarded for prosocial behavior were shown a film about the Holocaust and
later asked why they thought those terrible things happened, most of them
responded that they Jews MUST have done something bad!)
- Motivating
or creating interest (rewards cannot create interest or motivation, in fact, studies
have shown activities are rated as LESS enjoyable or interesting after
rewards were introduced into the equation)
So the question is,
why do rewards produce such HORRIBLE results when they seem so nice?
The author has 5
main points why rewards fail at bringing us the change we want.
1.)Rewards discourage Risk taking.
"When we are working for a reward, we do exactly
what is necessary to get it and no more".pg. 63
First, let me begin
with a personal story. When I was in the 1st grade, my teacher handed the
students a random coloring sheet.
"Color this, then you can go outside to recess" said the
teacher. Recess! I colored the paper as fast as I could and handed it in to the
teacher, as did many other students. Still, we had to wait until everyone was
finished. The teacher (whom I actually liked very much and was generally a kind
and fair teacher) examined all of the papers. She got up and solemnly announced
"I am very disappointed in everyone's work today. Many of you did a very
poor job coloring these papers. Alex (made up name of a long forgotten fellow
student) is the only one who took his time. See how he even took the time to
carefully color the boys shirt to look like flannel? Alex, good job. You may go
to recess FIRST."
Oh how my little
heart filled with rage, shame and indignation all at the same time!!!
"Unjust! Unjust!" it cried out. It may seem odd to you that I
remember this incident, so long ago. And it probably sounds like I'm being very
dramatic. I mean, nothing horrible happened to me. I have heard of much more
humiliating, horrible things that happen to children at the hands of
well-intentioned (or not) teachers. You may even think that my teacher was
trying to teach me an important lesson and I'm a little brat for even bringing
this up! (which may be true). Nevertheless this episode has stuck with me.
After reading "Punished by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn, I am beginning to
see why it has stuck with me. So what
did this incident teach me?
(HINT: it WASN'T
that I should always work my hardest)
What
Rewards and Punishments Taught me in 1st gradE:
FLANNEL is the best way to
color a shirt, and if you color a shirt with a flannel pattern the teacher will
really like it and will probably reward you.
For
WEEKS afterward I carefully colored each coloring page with a shirt on it with
flannel, desperate to get my teachers praise, and hopefully the elusive
"first to recess" prize. But she never seemed to notice….Failing to
be rewarded had caused me to STOP being creative in future coloring
assignments. I did exactly what got rewarded last time, even though I don’t
much like flannel.
When rewards are
given, people tend to focus so narrowly on the task (and the reward) they do
not explore other options, take risks, notice small details, or act creatively.
Not only is taking a risk not necessary, but it could possibly cost you the
reward!
Being rewarded for a
task led people in a study to elicit "stereotypical" and
"repetitive" responses. They did the same thing over and over that
got them the reward in the first place, never straying.It even led them to be LESS creative in unrelated tasks that were given later! Exactly like my 1st
grade self, who colored everything with flannel for weeks!
This is exactly what
students do when they are graded or rewarded. A child who is rewarded is being
forced to view their learning as something that is being evaluated by another.
In order to get the reward, they will avoid risks, creative choices, asking
challenging questions, taking on complicated tasks, engaging in skill-building
activities that might include failure, just so that they can ensure that they
get that prize. "Trying not to fail is very
different from trying to succeed".
Rewards discourage
risk taking; and what is creativity if not an intellectual or artistic risk?
Study after study has shown that people who are rewarded for a behavior show
far less creativity than those who are not. Artists commissioned for a painting
produce less creative works than when they are painting without a commission.
Children being
rewarded for creating art work also show less creativity, but also show more
preoccupation with how other children "scored", in contrast to
children who were not rewarded were more interested in WHAT the children DID.
Why are
we destroying our children's natural aptitude for creativity by stressing
grades or other rewards, when that is the most important skill they will need
in their future?
The best minds have been telling us for years
that the jobs our children are going to have when they grow up, are not even
invented yet. How then can our skills train them for these jobs? They cannot.
The best we can do is help our children retain their natural creativity and
adaptability. Yet, we are doing the exact opposite by grading, testing, bribing
and manipulating them with rewards designed to control their behavior and rank
their "learning". Rewards only encourage us to do what has worked in
the past, it does not help our children develop the skills they will need in
the future.
2.) Rewards Cut Interest and Intrinsic Motivation
E loves exploring the world around her, I want her to hold on to her natural sense of wonder and creativity, and not be tied down by focusing on whether her interests will be rewarded or not.
This is the one that
as a teacher, concerns me the most. Children do not have to be rewarded to
learn!!! How many 3 year olds do you
know that constantly ask "Why? Why? Why?" (the age of children who
aren't in school yet, hmmmm, coincidence?) They love to learn about everything
and anything! Yet, once they enter school, we think we have to give them gold
stars, high fives and grades for every minute action.
When we reward
someone for doing something (and remember, GRADES are both rewards (a's) and
punishments (f''s) we are sending a very clear message:
"What you are learning has no value in and of itself, so
I must bribe you to do it. It is not interesting, and I do not trust you to do
it without me measuring you, judging you and manipulating you. So please
memorize only what you have to in order to get a good grade, deep understanding
is not important".
The author cites
study after heart breaking study that showed how well intentioned teachers and
programs that were designed to get kids to read more, actually killed the
children's interests in books. Research showed that while kids might
participate in programs that reward them for reading, they chose easier books
than children who are not rewarded, showed less reading comprehension, and read
less when the rewards stop.
The same goes for
nearly any other activity. Not only does it kill motivation because by saying
"do this and you'll get that" you have taken the focus off of the
activity (learning) and placed it onto an artificial reward (the A, or the
"good job!"). When in fact, when the focus is on the task itself we
are able to enjoy the task for its inherent properties.
Children are being
taught by rewards to focus on "what do we get", and not the joy or
the value of the activity in itself. Not only that, when children are GRADED by teachers they have
fear put into the equation. For example, I know many students, myself
included, who love to learn, but were so afraid of damaging our GPA's we did
not take challenging courses. Instead we puffed up our resumes with the easiest
"blow-off" classes we could find, where the teachers would tell us
exactly what would be on the test beforehand so that we could memorize it,
forget it, and walk away with that diploma.
Don't we want our
children to come into school eager to learn? Confident in their natural
creativity to guide them to interesting questions and their natural ability to
learn and tenacity in the face of failure to come to a solution? Don't we want
our children to become so enthralled in a topic that they obtain deep
conceptual learning, and not just memorizing facts for a test (that will be
forgotten soon after?)
The author cites numerous studies again that
show students who attended schools that do NOT emphasize grades get this kind
of experience. Children who are graded tend to only look at the surface,
children who were not, and were given the freedom to become deeply engaged in a
task, showed much better conceptual and deep learning and better retention.
However, the vast amount of children in America have the promise (and threat)
of grades constantly dangled in front of their faces, that they can't help but
try to learn only what the teacher wants them to learn, and regurgitate it back
in the form the teacher wants to hear it. It's no wonder that the 3 year old
rapt with awe about the world quickly becomes the 7 year old who dreads school,
complains about teachers and throws tantrums over homework.
3. Rewards Punish
The author points
out that nearly everyone, even behaviorists agree that punishments are VERY
ineffective, usually resulting in MORE of the behavior you do not want, and
extremely damaged individuals. But what we don't seem to understand is that
rewards are not the OPPOSITE of punishment, they are in fact just the other
side of a two-sided coin. You cannot separate them.
The author states
"rewards punish" for 2 reasons. First, what is the difference between
punishing someone for not doing a behavior and not giving them a promised
reward for failing to do the behavior? You might say "Well, they didn't do
the behavior so they don't DESERVE the reward." This may be true, but if
we agree with behaviorists and virtually every other person who deals with
children, that punishments do not get the intended results, there is no
difference. Not getting rewarded has the same connotation as being punished.
Secondly, rewards
punish because they are used to CONTROL. The author uses a great analogy, you
may catch more flies with honey than vinegar….but you're still CATCHING them,
and this doesn't feel great to the fly. Rewarding someone for a specific
behavior sends an very important message. The message being, I am in charge,
you are not, I am watching everything you do and it is being judged by me. If
someone feels manipulated, controlled or generally without choice the
experience will be viewed negatively, even if they did receive the
"prize". Therefore, even being rewarded feels like a veiled
punishment, the punishment of being controlled and manipulated.
Back to my coloring
story, I learned that
everything I do is being judged (and not by me), I was being controlled.
-This
seemed so unfair to me as a child because the teacher never told me that the
QUALITY mattered! She had said "Do this, and then you'll get that."
One of the problems with rewards and punishments is that it makes the person
being controlled so narrow-minded on the
reward (or escaping punishment) that they think of nothing else. I was doing
exactly what she said was necessary (no more, no less).
-It
didn't matter if I had thought I had done a good job or not, what matters is
what my teacher thinks is a good job. Therefore, do no more, no less, and
certainly no different from what the
teacher thinks.
-Even
if I had done my best work, only one student was praised. Only 1 was rewarded
with the elusive "first to go to recess" prize. I'm sure there were
other students who really had done their best, and they learned that day that
it didn't matter what they thought, only what others (more powerful than they)
thought.
4.) Rewards rupture relationships
The author cited
several studies that showed that children who were rewarded by parents and
teachers were quick to go to the "rewarder" with the right answer, or
to show them something they had done well, but hesitated in going to them when
they had problems, questions, concerns or were confused.
Isn't this EXACTLY when we want our children
to come to us the most? Rewarding ensures that our children say "mommy
look what I did!" every single time they think they colored a pretty
picture (or a picture they think WE will think is pretty), but what about when
they have a tough math problem? What about when they made a mistake and are
scared about how to fix it? What about when a kid has asked them to ditch
school and they are tempted to do it? What about when they have questions about
sex, drugs or other things that are less than likely to get them praised.
The author cited a
study were older girls were rewarded for tutoring younger girls. In the study,
if the girl wasn't learning fast enough, she was seen negatively because she
was seen as an obstacle to her reward. They also became less effective teachers.
Another study was mentioned where even MENTIONING potential rewards for being
in a romantic relationship led people to report feeling LESS LOVE for their
partners!
Additionally, when
children are rewarded, or graded (especially on a curve where extrinsic
motivators are made artificially scarce) this detracts from an environment of
collaboration. Children are discouraged from collaborating because tests are
there to "see what YOU can do, not
your neighbor". But if schools are there to train us for the real world
(which I would argue traditional schools are actually training our children for
a world that existed 50-100 years ago!) then is this how the real world
operates? Of course not. We are constantly working in teams, collaborating,
networking. "All of us are smarter than any of us". So why are we
encouraging cheating and de-emphasizing the power of team work and
collaboration, in order to create a more perfect GRADE? Shouldn't we be
focusing on the child, and not one measure of one type of aptitude?
Bonus:
From a Montessori perspective, rewards do not
build independent individuals.
One of the main
goals of a Montessori teacher is to help the child to become as independent as
possible. No one wants to feel dependent on another, we want freedom,
dignity, and autonomy over our own
lives! Yet, reward and punishment do NOT work unless the subject is dependent
on the rewarder.
Just like in my
story, I learned that
As a child, I had no basic rights:, I was totally
dependent on my teacher
In school, my basic rights (like the right for
a young child to go outside and run around) is contingent upon unimportant
tasks, and the discretion of someone in command.
- Traditional schooling is
about control. The command was "color this, then you'll get to go
outside". What if I didn't color the page? Would I be kept in?
Probably, in order to teach me not to be so defiant! This taught me that I
had no inherent rights, but was at the mercy of the person in charge, who
could, make me jump through hoops if she wanted too. How many children are
kept in from recess when "naughty"? How many children have to
wait to use the bathroom until the teacher is finished talking, the test
is done, or circle time is over?
People who train
animals (in fact, most behaviorists who developed these theories worked mainly
with rats and pigeons and not humans) will intentionally keep their animals
hungry so that food rewards will remain effective. In turn, children have to
remain dependent on us (that means withholding affection, food, or other
rights) in order for the rewarder-rewardee system to keep our children under
control.
This is NOT the
relationship I want to have with my daughter, or any child. It isn't CONTROL we should be aiming to have, but a
loving, trusting relationship with which we can teach a child the skills they
need to have in order to have
self-control. Having a classroom that remains quiet because
they are promised a treat if they do, is not the same as a child who chooses
silence because they understand it creates a peaceful atmosphere in which they
and others can do their best work.
I want my daughter to always come to me when she has problems, not just when she thinks she's done a "good job"
5.) Rewards Ignore Reasons
The author's 3rd point is that rewards ignore
reasons. Let me give you an example. Just this week, my daughter was having a
tough time eating her broccoli. She usually loves it, but this instance
wouldn't eat it! A behaviorist would say "every time she eats a piece of
broccoli, give her a piece of chocolate!" sounds good right? But after
remembering a study the author cited where children who were told they must
first eat snack "a" before they could eat snack "b" ended
up reporting they liked snack "a" less than they did BEFORE the
experiment started! (this is true of almost all instances of rewarding someone
to do something, the behavior being rewarded decreases and reported as less
enjoyable than it was before the experiment started. For example, children who
were rewarded for coloring, stopped coloring after the rewards ended.) Anyway,
so back to the broccoli. I picked up a piece myself and bit into it, to show
her how yummy it was, and realized it was still rather tough! So I broke it
into smaller bite sized pieces for her, she gobbled it up. The next day, she
was having trouble again finishing her dinner! I realized that she probably
wanted to feed herself, so instead of spoon feeding her, I gave her the spoon
and again, dinner was wolfed down!
Through these
examples, it's easy to see why rewards and punishments are so seductive. Many
problems-one solution! But in reality, one child, one problem-many solutions!
It takes a lot more patience, observation, creativity and respect for the child
to help them solve problems without rewards and punishments. But don't we want
to help our children solve problems, not just follow commands in order to get a
gold star, dollar bill or dessert?
Yes, "many
problems one solution" is tempting. But honestly, our children deserve
better than a snake oil cure all elixir! I have found addressing the reason,
the cause behind the behavior and including the child in on the problem solving
process is much more beneficial, and helps the child build the skills they will
need in life.
Our Children deserve
better than to be controlled and manipulated by rewards that do nothing to
build self-control, self-motivation, creativity and problem solving.
It is my
belief that rewarding a child is based on the belief that the child is
inherently BAD, and must be bribed to be "good", and that activities
like being moral, pro-social, learned, or healthy have no intrinsic joy or value
to them, and must be puffed up by artificial rewards.
Lets move
PAST rewards, and get back to helping children see the JOY in learning, the JOY
intrinsic in helping others, become problem solvers who see the REASON and
LOGIC behind correct actions! Let us EMPOWER our children, not CONTROL them
temporarily with rewards and punishments!
I left one bowl plain an added food dye to another
In the middle of making the paints, E decided she wanted to eat some pumpkin! Which is exactly why we do these sorts of things! Babies who are able to explore a variety of smells, tastes and textures turn out to be more adventurous eaters. 
This is the consistency once it's finished, 
