Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

MOTIVATION

The reasons that move [children] must be obvious, and level to their thoughts, and such as many (if I may so say) be felt and touched. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

You may take a child to the schoolroom, but you cannot make him learn the new things you wish to impart, except by soliciting him in the first instance by something which natively makes him react. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

The total mental efficiency of a man is the resultant of the working together of all his faculties. He is too complex a being for any one of them to have the casting vote. If any one of them do have the casting vote, it is more likely to be the strength of his desire and passion, the strength of the interest he takes in what is proposed. Concentration, memory, reasoning power, inventiveness, excellence of the senses,--all are subsidiary to this . . . ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

I have always had a fancy, that learning might be made a play and recreation to children; and that they might be brought to desire to be taught, if it were proposed to them as a thing of honour, credit, and delight, and recreation, or as reward for doing something else, and if they were never chided or corrected for the neglect of it. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

For the constrained performance of bodily labour does, it is true, exert no evil influence on the body; but in the case of the mind, no study, pursued under compulsion, remains rooted in the memory. ~ Plato, The Republic

For extravagant young fellows, that have liveliness and spirit, come sometimes to be set right, and so make able and great men: but dejected minds, timorous and tame, and low spirits, are hardly ever to be raised, and very seldom attain to anything. To avoid the danger that is on either hand is the great art: and he that has found a way how to keep up a child's spirit, easy, active, and free; and yet, at the same time, to restrain him from many things he has a mind to, and to draw him to things that are uneasy to him; he, I say, that knows how to reconcile these seeming contradictions, has, in my opinion, got the true secret of education. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

The deepest spring of action in us is the sight of action in another. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

You can be an artist without visual images, a reader without eyes, a mass of erudition with a bad elementary memory. In almost any subject your passion for the subject will save you. If you only care enough for a result, you will almost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich; if you wish to be learned, you will be learned; if you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must, then, really wish these things, and wish them with exclusiveness, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

He that loves reading, writing, music, etc. finds yet in himself certain seasons wherein those things have no relish to him: and, if at that time he forces himself to do it, he only pothers and wearies himself to no purpose. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

None of the things they are to learn should ever be made a burden, or imposed on them as a task. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

For knowledge is grateful to the understanding, as light to the eyes: children are pleased and delighted with it exceedingly, especially if they see that their inquiries are regarded, and that their desire of knowing is encouraged and commended. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

One often hears it said that we should put everything before children in such a way that they shall do it from inclination. In some cases, it is true, this is all very well, but there is much besides which we must place before them as duty. And this will be of great use to them throughout their life. For in the paying of rates and taxes, in the work of the office, and in many other cases, we must be led, not by inclination, but by duty. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

Clearly, dispositions such as optimism are motivating. In addition, positive dispositions such as optimism, perceptions of authenticity, self-acceptance and regard, and acceptance and regard for others are themselves related to academic motivation and achievement. ~ Frank Pajares, Toward a Positive Psychology of Academic Motivation

Students whose academic efforts are grounded in love of the work and who prefer tasks from which they can learn, even if they make mistakes along the way, do not require that others validate their academic efforts and do not fear self-censure or the censure of others when errors are made. This social and psychological emancipation from need and fear frees individuals to more readily accept, appreciate, and forgive—to invite—themselves and others. ~ Frank Pajares, Toward a Positive Psychology of Academic Motivation

Behavior is not just emitted or elicited, nor does it come directly out of culture or society. It comes from an internal struggle among mental modules with differing agendas and goals. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter 3

[Our] desires are the moving springs of action. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education

There is reason to believe that voluntary activity, more than highly developed intellect, distinguishes humans from the animals which stand closest to them. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

Every [developmental] advance is connected with a marked change in motives, inclinations, and incentives. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how." ~ Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, p. 101

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM