I am a teacher. I must decide whether students get awarded. My choice is they should not; instead, they will feel awarded when they contribute to a bigger personal or social goal. That is, their moral actions are means to an end.
When I was in college, I was assigned a book, "The Stranger." I did not feel like reading it, of course. I could not see how reading it would benefit me. But I was part of a class and I had to explore the book, for a grade. I had no intrinsic motivation but an extrinsic one. I was expected to get awarded. And I did. I got a 4 out of 5 on the assignment. I was satisfied. I contributed to my goal of graduating. Besides, I began looking at life in a different way, for I deeply identified with the main character of the book, the stranger. And he believed in his own ideas, not society´s.
So, learning happens when there is an award at play. Award=means; learning=end. Furthermore, learning is the means to a moral and meaningful life. This contradicts my first paragraph. Lesson learned; Let it be known I am a constructivist. To reason well, it is effective to begin with a narration. In the end, a short story is full of facts, and they pave the way for a strong conclusion.
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