Content provided in partnership with
Rethinking character education: challenging the conventional wisdom about camp and kids: a substantial number of people believe that camps can do more than provide an opportunity to have fun: they can also promote children's social and moral growth
Camping Magazine, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Alfie Kohn
Counselors don't just sit back passively while this happens. They have a tricky role to play: it takes a lot more skill to facilitate democratic decision-making than to dictate. They may, for example, begin a session by asking returning campers to think about what went wrong during previous summers and how we can make things better this time. They may propose a goal--for example, that no one should feel excluded or ridiculed--and then ask how we can make that happen.
- Most Popular Articles in Sports
- The first family: Archie, Peyton and Eli are incredibly famous, immensely ...
- The growing gap: driving distances are skyrocketing on the PGA Tour. So why ...
- Which pistol caliber for self defense? Four different people come to four ...
- Drag racing - National Hot Rod Association
- The world's most popular .22: the Marlin Model 60 just keeps on ticking
- More »
Just as counselors need to include campers in making decisions, so camp directors need to include counselors in a similar process. A more democratic arrangement not only creates a feeling of openness and boosts morale among the staff, but also sets an example for counselors to replicate in their own cabins. Indeed, directors may even consider this issue when hiring: Does an applicant have the disposition and skills to help campers fashion a democratic caring community, or is this someone who needs to control kids?
"Character Education Should Strive to Developed Intrinsic Motivation."
That sentence comes from the same "Principles of Effective Character Education for Camps" mentioned earlier. It means that we should slop focusing on kids' behavior and consider their reasons and motives for what they do. It means that we want them to do the right things for the right reasons.
What we don't want is for kids to do what we tell them in order to avoid a punishment or get a reward. If the threat is severe enough, or the bribe is tempting enough, we can usually produce temporary compliance.
But neither "consequences" nor "positive reinforcement" can help campers develop a commitment to doing what's right, an understanding of why it's right, or a desire to become the kind of person who acts that way in the future. When we try to "catch kids being good" and then give them the equivalent of a doggie biscuit for pleasing us, we produce a situation captured by Tom Lehrer's classic lampoon of the Boy Scout's motto: "Be prepared, and be careful not to do/your good deed when there's no one watching you."
What the evidence suggests is this: The more we reward people for doing something, the more likely they are to lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. Extrinsic motivation, in other words, is not only different from intrinsic motivation but actually tends to erode it. One series of studies showed that individuals who have been rewarded for doing something caring or helpful become less likely to think of themselves as caring or helpful people and more likely to attribute their behavior to the reward (Batson et al. 1978; Smith et al. 1979).
Other research drives the point home: children who are frequently rewarded or praised for caring, sharing, and helping are less likely than other children to keep doing those things (Fabes et al. 1989; Grusec 1991). They have learned that the point of being good is to get rewards. Once again, the fault lies not with the kids but with our systems--in this case, systems that basically treat children like pets to be trained.
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Autos
Most Popular Articles in Sports
- The first family: Archie, Peyton and Eli are incredibly famous, immensely ...
- The growing gap: driving distances are skyrocketing on the PGA Tour. So why ...
- Which pistol caliber for self defense? Four different people come to four ...
- Drag racing - National Hot Rod Association
- The world's most popular .22: the Marlin Model 60 just keeps on ticking
- More »