Friends or Enemies

One of the more interesting observations from today’s reenactment of the ongoing protests in Egypt, was the almost instinctive eagerness of, at least some of the simulated protesters, to want to confront the simulated army.

egypt-in-your-face — 70. A demonstrator (L) argues with police during a protest in Cairo January 28, 2011. Police and demonstrators fought running battles on the streets of Cairo on Friday in a fourth day of unprecedented protests by tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis (via TotallyCoolPix)

One protester, who’d been given the role of “angry student demonstrator” was extremely eager to get in the face of the army.

We were, after all, playing a simulation game, and that particular student had been told that he was angry, frustrated with the lack of opportunities, and all riled up. However, the way the actual Egyptian protesters are dealing with the army is really important to observe. They’re treating them like the friends and brothers they actually are: taking them in, rather than fighting against them.

I did have one of the protesters offer to hug the “army”, so, in the end, I hope the message that co-option can be much better than confrontation.

Notes on Daniel Pink’s Drive

Introduction

Introduces the idea of intrinsic motivation.

Describes Harlow and Deci‘s original studies that came up with the idea of intrinsic motivation. Note: Maslow (of Hierarchy of Needs fame) was Harlow’s student.
Three basic types of motivation (drives):
- Motivation 1.0: Biological (need for food, drink, sex)
- Motivation 2.0: Extrinsic (e.g. getting paid)
- Motivation 3.0: Intrinsic

Chapter 1: Extrinsic versus Intrinsic Motivation

1. Wikipedia: a success almost entirely because contributors are willing to invest their time and energy for no reward; the very definition of intrinsic motivation.

Note: Despite my own challenges with students using Wikipedia as a reliable source, we use our own classroom Wiki extensively. Giving students projects with a clear goal in mind, but great freedom in execution (like the choose your own adventure stories), seems to tap into the same spirit that motivates the Wikipedia contributors.

2. Social operating systems: the basic, often invisible, assumption on which society runs.

Note: Good metaphor, but he explains it as if the development of our understanding of motivation paralleled human evolution/development. Pre-social humans were driven primarily by the biological imperative, like large animals still are, he claims. I am very uneasy about this sort of lazy extrapolation given how much we’re learning that differences between humans and animals are no where near where we thought they’d be, particularly given the social organization of many animals. He also ignores cross-cultural differences: different societies value self-actualization and other intrinsic motivation characteristics much differently than the WIERD one he seems to be describing.

3. Introduces behavioral economics (mentions Ariely): Humans are not anywhere near to being ideal, rational economic agents.

4. During the industrial revolution, work was mostly algorithmic (a worker could follow a clearly defined set of steps to get their job done), while now it’s mostly heuristic (workers have to come up with new things).

algorithmic work is being replaced by software and outsourced really fast (that’s globalization for you)
p. 30 – U.S. job growth – 30% algorithmic, 70% heuristic.
Note: Pink claims that heuristic work can’t be outsourced “generally”. He apparently wrote a book about it: A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. I may have to get that one, because, while I can see automation eliminating most algorithmic work, I don’t know why heuristic work is so difficult to outsource. Certainly there are local, cultural issues that would make things like advertising campaigns difficult for outsiders (and teaching would probably be hard to outsource too because most people don’t want to send their kids overseas for school), but a lot of other stuff is not that difficult for some creative person somewhere else to do; the world is, after all, Flat. Heuristic jobs are still going to be more abundant than algorithmic, but going heuristic no magic bullet: global competition is still going to be a major factor in the future.

Chapter 2

Baseline rewards: the basics people need in a job that earns them a living. Salary, a few perks, some benefits etc.

Below baseline rewards there is little motivation.
Above baseline rewards extrinsic rewards can be counterproductive.

Work vs. Play: Mark Twain: “Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.”

When rewards don’t work:

When they are expected (see also post on Praise and Rewards) (called contingent rewards). If you do this, you’ll get this, does not work.

Deci et al., 1999: “tangible rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on intrinsic motivation.”

(to be continued)

Cognitive diversity in the classroom

Since different student learn better in different ways, would it make sense to separate schools and classes by different learning styles? A countervailing argument, and the one upon which my Montessori middle school program (which is based on the Coe model) is predicated, is that students need to learn about different ways of learning and be able to interact with peers with different learning styles because creative endevours, especially in the future, will rely heavily on making connections between diverse fields and groups. The importance of having students interact in a diverse environment is particularly important if we can observe that students will, eventually, self-select in different fields based on their native talents, which are related to their learning styles. Students with a mathematical aptitude may tend to become engineers, more so than their peers.

So intellectual and cognitive diversity is important, yet the program also requires some uniformity. I’ve heard that, in general, students without experiences in Montessori-like environments can have a hard time adapting to the Montessori Middle School because we expect an awful lot of independence and time management that students are often not exposed to in traditional schools.

At any rate, accounting for learning-style diversity is essential, and sometimes I wonder if today, with so many more opportunities and temptations available for early specialization, if we’re not seeing further diversification in the cognitive continuum. What precisely is the point where students should begin to specialize. Matt Might model (pictured below) has specialization of education beginning at college, but it really starts earlier, at least in high school, but I wonder where the is the most appropriate initiation actually is. Historically, at least, kids were apprenticed at a very early age.

knowledge — The illustrated guide to a Ph.D. by Matt Might.

Islands of peace in a revolution

From the Guardian’s live feed of the uprising in Egypt:

prayercairo — A protester approaches the police to organize a cease-fire for the evening prayer. (Screengrab from Al Jezeera via The Guardian)

prayer — Prayer as protest (via The Daily Dish)

And who are the police? Who’s side are they on?

An-Egyptian-anti-governme-007 — An Egyptian anti-government activist kisses a riot police officer following clashes in Cairo. Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP (via The Guardian live updates)

It reminds me of this picture from the protests last November in London over university tuition increases:

Schoolgirls-join-hands-to-008 — Schoolgirls join hands to peacefully stop attacks on a police van during student protests in London. Photograph: Demotix/Peter Marshall (via The Guardian)

So some questions:

What would it take for you to go out and protest (have you done it before)?
What would you do under these circumstances?

“The only time anyone fails is when they are scared to try”

“[My father] used to say it was better to fail through lack of ability than lack of effort,” he says. “He also said fear of failure was something you had to go through because the only time anyone fails is when they are scared to try.”
— Ian Holloway in The Guardian

One of the things I really like about European (and other) soccer leagues is the relegation and promotion system. It encourages competition, and the dream that one day your small town side can make it up the the big leagues. Or as in Blackpool’s case, return to the top after thirty years in the lower divisions.

When they barely qualified for the top English division last year, it was widely expected that they would set records for most goals conceded, and be the first team to be relegated. But they’ve done well enough. They’re well out of the relegation zone at the moment and have impressed, even though they’re still playing in the smallest stadium and have the cheapest team. So their coach, Ian Holloway, knows something about facing potential embarrassment, and the fear of failure.