How Do I Get There? vs. You Must Go

Longtime blogger Seth Godin once wrote the following:

“It’s more productive to offer directions to someone who has already decided to go on the journey.

It's this idea — which Godin calls “enrollment” — that I'm after when I write constantly about the Five Key Beliefs about student motivation.

What you're seeking is the creation of a classroom in which students genuinely want to do the work of learning, where they do the work because they care to rather than because they've been coerced.

In his book  This is Marketing , Godin goes so far as to say that “there’s no such thing as mandatory education.”

“It’s almost impossible to teach people against their will,” Godin says. “The alternative is voluntary education: gaining enrollment.”

I think sometimes we assume that since schooling is compulsory for children in the United States that an education is, too.

But Godin's right: an education is, always has been, and always will be a partnership. The wise teacher accepts this; she partners herself to this reality; he submits himself, happily, to the inviolable power of the human will.

Very practically, this means we do things like:

•  Sending Credibility signals , often.
•  Painting with the full Value palette , often.
•  Woodenizing all learning behaviors , often.

And so on.

Best, DSJR

P.S. My book Will to Learn is set to come out in just over a month — April 2023. If you liked These 6 Things, you'll love this book — it's the sequel.  Use coupon code DSJR for an exclusive discount.