taking you a little father into the recesses...
I have a little Father too :)
Extrinsic motivators undermine intrinsic ones.
If you do A to get B, you don't enjoy B.
Go for a drive, it's nice, fun, fulfilling.
Go for a drive to get to work, and it's tedious.
Kids are naturally curious, right up until you force them to learn stuff; then the curiosity dies.
I know because I was an inquisitive kid, and didn't care to start learning again until my early 30's.
Formal, mandatory schooling damaged my love of learning so much it took more than a decade to recover.
If the purpose of learning is to avoid punishment their love of learning will inevitably die.
Thanks for pointing that out, dude.
I don't think I stopped enjoying learning, but I'm quite similar in as much as I didn't really enjoy it until it became a choice rather than a chore. I think once it became a choice, it suddenly opened up a plethora of frontiers you could look into as well, rather than the limited scope of what a school can offer.
I can't help but remember that series (I think about 6 parts) you pointed me to a few year back from the '80's, I think it was. I can't really remember a whole lot about it except it was created by an older man who was talking about the much needed reformation of school systems. Do you happen to recall what it was called? I wouldn't mind getting my hands on it again.
Milton Friedman. Free to Choose.
Highly recommend. Also praxgirl on YouTube.