Checkmarks

Image by Videoblocks

Check

It’s become a standard of success these days – how many checkmarks can I get and how many checkmarks can I give?

Situation #1

I’m a student at a local university.  The majority of my classes are online and the format is a checklist of instructions and assignments.  I spend my days tackling the tasks on that list in order to receive a checkmark.  Ironically, I’m getting an A in all my classes and so far, I can assume that if I do the work (get a checkmark) a good grade will follow.

Situation #2

I am also homeschooling my two youngest children – 7 & 10.  Yes, it’s an insane combination (I never claimed this was a good idea, though it does feel like the right one).  We start our school at 6:30 with a morning devotional before family members have to leave for school and work.  I proceed with instructions, planning, and a moment of connection before I start my own studies.  My two children spend the rest of their day self-governing their occupations based on a checklist of ideas.  I have been so impressed and a bit surprised by how effectively they are spending their day in productive, independent practice, study, and leisure activities.  As they complete a task, they bring their checklist to me to inspect and sign off.  They have been highly motivated by the checkmark.

Situation #3

My teenage daughter has chosen to remain in the local high school, at least for the remainder of this year.  She does, however, struggle quite a bit with some basic study skills due to learning challenges. Needless to say, her grades are reflective of this condition and she is failing some of her classes.  At first it was quite a traumatic experience for her to not be just like everyone else, even though she was probably putting in double the effort.  She was enjoying the idea of possibly being the first in our family to graduate from a public school.  All her older siblings had graduated from our homeschool as well as passed the GED, but she wanted to be unique, I suppose, by being like everybody else.  She was equating her value on whether she could measure up to these outside, other-imposed, standards of accomplishment.  In other words, she was striving to get enough checkmarks to make the cut of being acceptable.   

What does all this mean?  Probably nothing. Though I do find it interesting.  This motivation is obviously secondary to say the least.  In all three cases, the dopamine fix of earning a checkmark, was the motivation instead of the underlying purpose of all this – obtaining an education.

I do the work on the checklist for my classes.  And what have I gotten from all my effort?  

Simply… a checkmark…! 

I can’t say that I feel I have mastered the content or internalized it into my character – partially because I’m too busy earning checkmarks to take it to a deeper level. My younger children earn a checkmark simply so their work plan for the day has a signature in each slot, (it is visually appealing) not necessarily because they are inspired or wanting to engage in those pursuits.  My teenage daughter was doing a tremendous amount of learning, but because it didn’t meet someone else’s standard of acceptability, she was considered a failure. There is definitely some drawbacks to the checklist approach to education.

On the other hand, when one studies, they learn.  Duty brings about desire. And the ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) is tested, resulting in growth.   So does the end justify the means? Is there a better approach to learning or is this as good as it gets?

Of course, if that desire to learn something is already inside the student, the checkmark is simply an organizational tool to accomplish what is internally motivating them.  If the inner desire if focused on something else (say being popular or pleasing the teacher or obsessive tendencies to have all the checks marked) than the checklist becomes a management tool to control or be controlled.  Which becomes a moral concern.  Is it ethical to manipulate someone to accomplish what we think is in their best interest? That philosophy sounds all too familiar in context of the war in Heaven.

I love to learn and develop, so I don’t mind utilizing the checkmarks as a tool to accomplish that end.  Although for a person to be required to receive checkmarks as the standard of determining whether they are learning is pretty controlling and missing the mark.  Surely there is a more meaningful way to motivate and measure a person’s engagement in learning.  Surely there is a method that encourages the child to WANT to do what is necessary to learn rather than HAVE to do it.  The carrot and the stick method is a pretty lame application of motivation.

Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with that might be a better approach

·       

•            Inspire a child with truth, based on correct principles, so that they are self-disciplined to do what is necessary to learn. (Teach them correct principles and allow them to govern themselves)
• ·         Inspire a child with interesting exposures to the content they are needing to learn.
• ·         Have child set goals, help them set up an action plan, and then mentor them in how to reach that goal. 
• ·         Studying what the child wants to learn and taking advantage of all the learning opportunities that exist within their interest. No checklist yet learning is happening organically.

Having some way to measure learning is essential for the teacher. I get that. Using that method to motivate may be easy, but definitely an inferior means.