4Real Forums: Token Economy?

Oh, Dearest Mother, Sweetest Virgin of Altagracia, our Patroness. You are our Advocate and to you we recommend our needs. You are our Teacher and like disciples we come to learn from the example of your holy life. You are our Mother, and like children, we come to offer you all of the love of our hearts. Receive, dearest Mother, our offerings and listen attentively to our supplications. Amen.

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Topic: Token Economy?

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Angie Mc
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Posted: May 01 2006 at 4:26pm \| IP Logged

I thought I would post this flag to another post at Real Learning titledRetreat Learning? I thought my unschooler friends might have some clear thoughts and resources to question using a token economy as a means to teach virtue. Punished by Rewards comes to mind. TIA!

Love,

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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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Willa
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Posted: June 08 2006 at 12:15pm \| IP Logged

I was just looking over old threads in the unschooling forum and saw this, Angie.

I have a bit of distrust for token economy methods.   Perhaps that is one reason I am attracted to unschooling.

My parents did not use artificial motivators to raise us. My mom in fact really disliked any kind of "manipulation" -- she did not like to see it in us and so she tried to avoid it in her mothering. Obviously I knew when my parents were pleased or displeased, but usually because they TOLD us.

I have sometimes used various incentive methods in our homeschool.   Usually it works best as a kind of game or challenge rather than as a method to form virtue. For example, we have a tradition that when a child is reading but just on the border of fluency, we make a "reading incentive program" where we keep a chart and provide rewards for books read etc. It's a temporary thing and fun to celebrate progress and it gets the older "already fluent" kids in on the game since they get the rewards for reading too.

It may be a bit like your reading or writing intensives, Angie.

But to me, using tokens to foster heart attitudes or character formation (as opposed to simply to provide a boost for a specific behavior in a larger context) tends to backfire. Does that make sense?   When I was a Protestant child, sometimes there were Biblical memorization programs that rewarded memorizing with trinkets.   For one thing, the trinkets are usually cheapo -- MUCH more cheap than the actual rewards of learning Scripture.   Kids are smart enough to see the hidden message --- either the adults think the memory work is as cheap as the little plastic toys, or the adults don't respect the kids enough to think the kids will recognize the cheapness of the reward.

There is an interesting article here about these systems from a Christian unschooling persepctive.

Many schools used a ticket reward system whereby students received one blue ticket for every ten verses memorized, traded six blue tickets for one red, and eventually cashed in the red tickets at a value of one-half cent each toward purchasing Sunday school books or tracts. .....

The assumptions behind memorization were soon challenged. Teachers quickly realized that pupils were often more motivated by a desire for red tickets than by a thirst for Bible knowledge. The heart is left unimproved by moral truth, complained a typical critic of the memorization-reward system (perhaps he had had to listen while an eager student recited the begats)

HTH a bit, I know you are past that retreat now but it is an interesting topic.

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Willa
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