We’re at the point in the semester (week 4) where we’ve finally had the “oh, so nobody read” class.
In a pleasure/pain model of motivation, it’s easy to appeal to pain:
- You’ll flunk your quizzes.
- You’ll flunk your essay (which is based on a story you’re supposed to have read).
- You’ll flunk the class.
But that’s coming from the outside, and I know that part of what they’re implicitly asking is, “Of what practical value is doing the reading?” The absolute worst thing I could do is to try and make a practical case and get locked in a war of pragmatic attrition.
The first week of class, I had them write me a letter that was dated May 10th and began, “Dear Dr. Sircy, I got my ‘A’ because…”
Here were some of the things they wrote…
I made sure to keep up with assignments and the required reading as this course went on in order to receive an A at the end of the semester.
While this class has given me difficulty in the past, I really worked on dedicating the time and energy to the course that it deserves. I put the appropriate amount of work into writing my papers, reading the texts, and completing assignments.
I got an A in your class because I read all the books and material you assigned us.
I got my ‘A’ because I put in the work and I cared enough to get the grade I wanted.
I got my ‘A’ because I committed to completing all my assignments and homework on time to the best of my ability.
I strategically began dividing up the reading and other assignments for the week among each day so I would not have to do it all in one day and feel rushed.
Today, I’ll be reading some of these letters in class. Yes, this will be painful for some of them, but the letters they wrote were premised on pleasure: on what they were willing to do in order to get the grade they wanted. If they’re internally motivated to do better work, that’s worth more than all the pragmatic appeals I could ever hope to make.
I’ll end with I Corinthians 10:31.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
We’re not just doing this work for ourselves. We’re doing it for God.