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Is Education Your Job, Your Career, or Your Calling?

Posted by Unknown Sabtu, 09 Juli 2011 0 komentar

In his success psychology book entitled The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, Jonathan Haidt states that there are three ways people approach their work. People approach their work as a job, a career or as a calling, and their approach often determines their attitude and level of commitment to that work.

Those who approach their word as a job, "do it for the money." They are the "clock-watchers" who eagerly look for "quitting time" and daydream about what their weekend is going to be like. Most of these individuals seek greater fulfillment and engagement outside of their work.

Those who approach their work largely as a career, have the larger goals of advancement, promotion, and prestige in mind. These individuals according to Haidt, are energized by the pursuit of these goals. Sometimes, these individuals would be likely to take work home and do it themselves to make sure it's done properly all in the name of advancement.

Finally, those who approach their work as a calling, find their work in intrinsically rewarding. These individuals are not engaging in the work to achieve something else. They do the work because they are engaging in something that contributes to the greater good (This sounds a great deal like Daniel Pink in Drive.) Pink talks about the importance of feeling a part of something larger than yourself when engaging in work. Perhaps those who see work as a calling definitely see their work as much more important than those who see it as a "way to make money" or as a "way to get promotions or prestige."

The truth is probably not that clear. Most individuals probably engage in their work with just a bit of all three of these approaches, but we certainly would like to think that our work as educators rises to the level of a "calling." Yet, we still have current policymakers and education reformers who believe that the promise of money, of a promotion, and of prestige is all that is needed to improve our schools. In their efforts to "reform" the system, they need to beware of destroying the nobleness of teaching by forgetting that teaching is also a calling. Sure, teachers want to be compensated well for what they do, but it is true ignorance to think that pay is all that matters. For me, education was and remains a calling, and that is non-negotiable. I became a teacher because being a teacher is engaging in the most important work there is. Teaching is by definition a work that engages in something that contributes to the great good of all. Perhaps there is truth our policymakers can learn from Jonathan Haidt's book The Happiness Hypothesis

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Politicians Don't Get It: Merit Pay Won't Work

Posted by Unknown Minggu, 10 April 2011 0 komentar

In response to those politicians in Florida and elsewhere who have pushed their merit pay bills through in the face of research that says it won’t work, and also in the face of many experienced educators who tell them the same, I post Daniel Pink’s TED video “The Surprising Science of Motivation.” I suspect it is just as Pink says:

“What worries me as we stand here in the rubble of the economic collapse is that too many organizations are making their decisions, their policies about talent and people based on assumptions that are outdated, unexamined, and rooted in folklore more than science.”

The idea of merit pay and pay for performance will not work. It will not improve education, and in the end, we can only hope it does not cause major damage to public education. Perhaps though, that is the ultimate goal any way. With the public education system in shambles due to bad education policy, there is no option but privatize. Then again, maybe this whole push for merit pay is indicative of who and what we truly idolize in this country: we think the answer to all our problems lie in free markets and business. We forget that our current economic mess was caused by that which we idolize.