The Power of Praise
Posted by kozmicstu on Monday, 19 February 2007 23:13:06
Children aren't allowed to fail any more. If a child's exam results are less than satisfactory, they haven't failed - they've simply deferred their success. Classes streamed by ability aren't suitable as some people are apparently made to feel feel inadequate by the fact that they are put in the lower groups. Teachers aren't to criticise the work given in by a child because this may cause problems with their self-esteem, and they might not try as hard next time. Some 'progressive' educational establishments have taken on the approach of giving no criticism or discipline to children at all, simply allowing them to do whatever they please without reprimand so as not to create a negative atmosphere.
Traditionally, the flip-side to this is the 'tough-love' approach, where children are shamed into achieving good results and disciplined into behaving properly. Socialists for years have screamed out against the thought that children should actually be told that they aren't doing very well, or told off when they are bad.
There is, in fact, an easy and extremely effective middle ground, and it's just starting to come out of the wood-work. The problem is, self-esteem just isn't as important as it was thought to be, and constant discipline isn't as educational as it needs to be. Children who are told that they are smart and clever start giving up and not working any more. When they do work, they only attempt things which they know they can do - they no longer put in the effort. Children who are told, however, that they have obviously put a lot of effort into a good piece of work continue to try harder and put more effort in.
It's actually quite intuitive - a child who believes that their work is good because they are smart doesn't feel the need to put effort in - they're not going to be any less smart in the future, after all. A child who believes that their work is good because they put effort in will want to put effort in again in future. There have been several studies in this area showing remarkable changes between these two situations - children who are praised for using brainpower and putting in effort, rather than just for 'being smart' and getting the right result, become more engaged, more focused and higher achieving. They also enjoy work more.
Along with this comes the problems with the habit of giving praise to children who do sub-standard work in the hope that this will motivate them in future, or at least not dissuade them. Children are actually a lot smarter than this, and rapidly begin to understand that praise means only that their work is not good enough. Sometimes this praise can counter-productively make the child feel incapable - receiving praise for a sub-standard piece of work shows that the teacher thinks you are unable to produce a higher standard of work, while receiving criticism shows that the teachers can see the potential for improvement.
I think these are the sorts of ideas that our education system needs to take on board - children should be praised for the effort that they put in rather than their 'cleverness'. They should be given praise for good work and criticism for poor work, and they should be given appropriate punishments and discipline for wrongdoings.
Mr Cameron, what approach towards education would your Conservative Party take?
I have, by the way, shamefully stolen the topic of this post from an excellent article in New York magazine, http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/index.html
Stu
education, selfesteem, praise, schools