Each semester of college is a new chapter in my life. It’s a chance to start over, to meet new people and to build upon what I already know. New semesters consist of new classes, classmates and challenges.

Outside of school, I’m looking forward to blogging, going to the gym, improving my personal website, and developing my vision for Top Performance Golf. Each goal motivates me to wake up in the morning, stay healthy and educate myself as much possible. It’s easy for me to work on these things.

My biggest struggles happen in the classroom. I’m bothered by the lack of autonomy there and the pressure that comes with receiving good grades. I would rather spend two hours on a blog post than ten minutes summarizing a chapter from my HTML 5 textbook.

The question is: Why? Why am I not motivated by schoolwork?

After reflecting on this for a few weeks, I purchased Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. The book has provided me with more clarity about motivation that I would like to share with you today.

Extrinsic Motivation: refers to behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money, fame, grades, and praise

Students are traditionally motivated extrinsically. Most are motivated by the fear of doing poorly or the benefits of walking away with an A at the end of the semester. The majority of students therefore do “just enough” to achieve their goals.

School is a checklist item for most students. Just get it done by any means necessary and follow a narrow course until success.

This is precisely the problem with the education system. These extrinsic motivators extinguish creativity, diminish performance, foster short-term thinking, while encouraging cheating, shortcuts and other unethical behavior.

The American educational system is pushing kids to violate the honor code that they vow to respect when they begin their schooling.

There’s a disconnect between what science knows and education does. It’s time to rethink how we motivate our students.

Intrinsic Motivation: refers to behavior that is driven by internal rewards. In other words, the motivation to engage in a behavior arises from within the individual because it is intrinsically rewarding.

Before diving into the benefits of intrinsic motivation, I must acknowledge that I’m making the assumption that every student desires the following:

1. Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives

2. Mastery: The desire to get better and better at something that matters

3. Purpose: Do what we do for something that’s larger than ourselves

Most professors show up to the first day of class with a detailed syllabus. Each syllabus includes preset reading, essays and assignments for the semester — — course loads are tailored to the needs of the university… not the students.

Even worse… they include rigid grading scales that students are forced to conform to.

There’s no autonomy, no mastery and a shallow purpose. Students work to get good grades and no more — they’re just trying to meet their expectations.

It’s time for students to give their students the autonomy required to do great work in the classroom. Throw away the syllabus: Let students pick their projects, the books they read and the papers they write.

Let them inspire themselves.

Professors: think of yourself as a resource instead of a direction-givers. Focus on the subjects that students are passionate about and the subjects they want to master instead of following fixed curriculums that force heteronomy and disinterest.