The Magic 8 Ball says... you have sufficiently learned due to your completion of 8

In my book I read for class this semester I learned many things, one of them coming from the following question. "Is it possible that compelling people to do something guarantees that they will do it poorly, with a bad will, or indifferently?" (pg. 84 John Gatto, Dumbing Us Down).

I think it is more than possible, in fact it is likely that compelling people (students) to do something (blogs) guarantees that in most cases they will be done, to borrow from Gatto, "poorly, with a bad will, or indifferently" (84).

The point of blogging? People who blog get a kick out of it, they enjoy the conversations with people and get riled up about the causes! Blogging becomes interesting when the writer is passionate about the topic. The typical blogger blogs because they are fired up!

Blogging for the purpose of blogging almost defeats the purpose. Without passion and interest, a blog is nothing but the indifferent ramblings, and honestly, who wants to read that?

This is not to say that blogging has no place, I just think that having 8 or 10 or 2 blogs should be insignificant. The value is lost when it becomes how many blogs there are as opposed to the content. Are not 2 insightful blogs equal to 8 blogs written with indifference?

To close, this blog # 8, I want to question how education aims to educate students through compelling them to do things. Are we giving up valuable learning to have 4 papers and 8 blogs on the record? If intrinsic motivation and life-long learning are our goals, we are not accomplishing them through these means.

I leave this blog #8 with this question. Is it possible, if we stop compelling students to do something, it guarantees that when they are ready they will do activities greatly, with a good will, and great care and concern for their own learning?