<p>Alfie Kohn??? His ideas on equality in the classroom are so offensive to me, I shudder when I think about them. One of our school district’s (former) administrators quoted him to me … that was when I knew I had to find another school for my D. </p>
<p>As far as motivating your S, OP - I know that my S does much better when it’s someone else’s idea (as opposed to mine or his dad’s). For example, he was deciding on courses for junior year. I suggested that he take Honors Physics. He said that “no one” takes 2 science classes at once (he is also taking AP Bio). I told him that his sister & her friends all did. He said no & I told him to talk to his teachers. Next thing I knew, he wanted me to sign off on his course requests & I saw both science classes on his form. I didn’t say a word. His teachers made sure he signed up for what he should have signed up for. If you would like to motivate your S, maybe you can enlist the help of people your S might listen to. It doesn’t always work, of course — my S won’t do any school EC’s. He is aware of how that might impact him for college admissions, but he is willing to take a chance. Then again, he DID say he will probably run track next spring — so maybe he IS figuring it out on his own.</p>