Dear Arne: MIT study shows bonuses don't work when cognitive skills involved.

[madfloridian]

Run time: 10:48 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc   Posted on YouTube: April 01, 2010 By YouTube Member: theRSAorg Views on YouTube: 301393   Posted on DU: May 30, 2010 By DU Member: madfloridian Views on DU: 1998

 
In fact the study shows that as long as the task involved only mechanical skills, bonuses worked as expected.

But once the task called for even rudimentary cognitive skills, a "larger reward led to poorer performance."

This study was not done about education, so I am just pointing out that it could so easily apply at this time when our new Secretary of Education is all about merit pay and bonuses. In fact he is so much into the merit stuff that he is for allowing private corporations to pay the teachers who can perform in the dog and pony atmosphere.

It's not about true learning anymore, it is about taking a test made by a testing company with no oversight or regulation and graded by a company that is equally secretive.

It assumes all students are just the same, with the very same mental ability. It is stunning how that came to be the philosophy of a Democratic administration.

Hat tip to Perdido Street School blog.

What Motivates Us?
In education these days, all the MBA's running policy think it is money (in the form of merit pay) and fear (in the form of school closure, teacher firings, etc.)

Turns out they are wrong.

And science proves it.

Science funded by the Federal Reserve, btw

And I 100% agree on this statement.

Wow - who knew?

Treating employees like intelligent human beings works better than treating them like horses to be rewarded with carrots or punished with sticks.

I taught over 30 years. The truth of such a study is pretty damn obvious to those of us who know that people are different, have varied levels of ability, and perform various tasks at different skill levels.

All of Arne's "discretionary" funds in the billions...more than any education secretary has ever had....are not going to make a whit of difference in how a good teacher performs.

All it will do is add pressure enough to break the public school system...put more and more stress on the students, and in the end give Gates, Broad, and Walmart their way into taking over the system.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. I love the presentation. Thanks for posting.

[madrchsod]

2. arne do`t give a fuck as long as his check does`t bounce

he failed in chicago and now he is "nationwide"!

[gadjitfreek]

3. As a teacher, I know this to be true. Both of teachers and of students.

I work for one of the lowest-paying districts in the region. I am considered a master teacher with 22 years of experience and am known globally for the work I have done to advance chemistry eduction all on my own time, at my own expense. I put my entire course up on YouTube so my students would have an additional reference. They come up with boundless excuses why they don't use it, but students all over the world are using it. I expect no payment...in fact, when a board member commented I should be charging for them, I told him that I did it for the kids and I didn't want to be paid for it. He then said "So you wouldn't mind if we cut your pay in half?" That is the mentality of the managerial type...if you hit it hard enough with a hammer, you can force that square peg into that round hole. In fact, most of us just want to be left alone, not micromanaged, to do the best we can simply because the act imparts satisfaction...which is its own reward. This new "Race To The Top" is window-dressing. It does not address the issue...that our society as a whole does not value education or intelligence and parents are often not doing their job at home. That doesn't get votes, though...punishing and blaming teachers does. I don't want merit pay. I want to be left alone to continue honing my craft. Here it is, Saturday, a beautiful day, and I spent the morning rewriting my lab manual for next year. Not getting paid, but the end result was so astonishingly good that it didn't matter. My month of August will be spent revising my course for next year, something I do every year in response to my students' performance and issues the prior year.

I am sick of the teacher-bashing. Sick to death of it.

www.youtube.com/markrosengarten

[madfloridian]

4. "mentality of the managerial type"

Apt statement indeed. We have a Secretary of Education with that mentality now.

Very revealing post. Thank you for it.

Very true statement from you:

This new "Race To The Top" is window-dressing. It does not address the issue...that our society as a whole does not value education or intelligence and parents are often not doing their job at home. That doesn't get votes, though...punishing and blaming teachers does.

And to be quite frank, since Arne is doing all this with the blessing of our president...I must consider the fact that he also has the "managerial type" mentality. He just does not understand it can NOT apply to education.

Thanks for your post. Continue your good work. I remember a time when we all felt it was a reward to do a job well.

I am proud of the years I spent teaching, but seeing what is happening in that field I am thankful I am retired.

[izquierdista]

5. I would add that it is also the lawyer mentality

Lawyers learn that everything revolves around money; all injuries can be remedied with a monetary settlement, and all civil suits are based on an aggrieved party that is asking for monetary damages. Now what area was it that Obama got his post-graduate education?

[soryang]

12. Obama never tried a case

And he doesn't act like a lawyer. He's more of a Public Relations guy. You know a corporate spin artist. He wants tort reform, which disempowers lawyers and the public interest.

If money is not the remedy for physical and economic damages, what is? Perhaps we should arm ourselves and hunt down those that have harmed us rather than seek damages in court?

[izquierdista]

13. He is too much a lawyer

A negotiator. Agreeing that single payer is not to be discussed if it makes the pharma lobby walk away.

As for money, it makes a poor remedy after the fact, when caution, regulation, and proper safety procedures could have prevented damage (like the oil leak) in the first place.

[gadjitfreek]

6. 11 years and counting...

And it's disgusting that the system has us counting down the years until we can retire. If the system worked, I would have no interest in ever retiring. I love what I do, and I am very good at it. I love working with kids and I love seeing the difference I have made in the lives of so many. Yet the system seems determined to grind us down and spit us out. Even the best teacher can take only so much before they lose their passion, drive and determination to do the best they can. They beat it out of you. The poor teachers never take risks, so they never get into trouble with administrators. The best teachers, the ones who push the envelope, take the most chances and reap the greatest rewards...those are the ones that tenure is there to protect, because they are always targeted. Want to see a race to the bottom? Eliminate tenure. Eliminate pensions. Threaten to fire us for any reason. Why? So the hedge fund managers can keep robbing us blind and the oil companies can keep pumping their toxins into the environment with abandon. I voted for and supported President Obama, and he has a tough road no matter what he does, but his tack on education is utter folly. Race To The Top is extortion to force states to do what Arne tells them to do or be denied funding for a system already stretched to the breaking point.

[madfloridian]

7. I loved the kids, trying to inspire them in spite of their home life...

Working with the parents on ideas to help them.

But it became impossible to be a good teacher within the system forming when Jeb became governor. It was intolerable how the administration at school and county level began to treat us.

Just as they are trying to get rid of tenure in our schools....a private FL college has decided they will start tenure up again after 40 years.

They have learned it attracts better quality professors.

[JHB]

22. Management mentality

Thanks for your work in trying to get our kids a decent science education.

Please don't take this as a knock -- it's more an observation of the ass-backwardness of managment mentality -- but you might have had better success if you did charge them. It seems like that type will swallow anything that comes from a "consultant" and reflexively brush off any suggestion, proposition, or innovation that comes from The Great Unwashed (a.k.a. their employees).

[Jakes Progress]

8. There is no study or evidence that any of the "innovations"

coming from the administration will work. There isn't even any anecdotal evidence from real classrooms and teachers. This is all playing for the crowd, looking tough for the voters. It is very shameful.

[madfloridian]

9. Exactly right. They are pushing a system that has not been tested.

And in the process they will destroy public education instead of fixing it.

[Jakes Progress]

10. And their reasons for doing it are shameful.

Either they are ignorant and messing with things they shouldn't because of that ignorance, or

they are aware but doing the wrong things anyway for reasons only they can know. So the administration is either stupid and arrogant or self-serving and greedy.

There are several issues where these tendencies are beginning to show, but none more blindingly clear than the issue of public education.

I notice that education threads get little traffic compared to, o say, the latest presidential basketball game. I think that is because no one can really begin to defend the administration on this issue. They tried when the posts about the privatization of public education first started, but logic, facts, and reality shot them down. Now they just stay away. After all, they aren't teachers. Maybe they can just get their kids out before it crumbles. So they just avoid talking about it and turn their backs on the next generation of children.

[madfloridian]

11. Lots of good points.

I think they are aware but have the wrong reasons and will do it anyway.

Correct..education threads get ignored mostly because there is almost no defense anymore.

Plus, since the Democrats are doing it...it seems okay to many.

[scentopine]

14. Great video - as engineer and active inventor, this perfectly captures my work ethic,

my most productive and creative times are off the clock.

[wordpix]

16. mine, too---I'm a very good teacher & tutor but the paperwork kills me

Off the clock, I'm an environmentalist and very effective

[madfloridian]

18. Can you imagine what all this testing is doing to creative minds?

Just imagine having hours and hours of school days now turned over to practice testing?

[madfloridian]

15. Sad part is...doesn't matter if it works or not. It's a preset agenda.

And it will be done no matter what.

[JHB]

17. This isn't just for Arne...

Everyone should learn about these results. Like the shareholders and employees of companies with obscene Executive compensation. The company will be healthier if that money is spread around at lower levels, not concentrated in a few hands.

[madfloridian]

19. Good point about a healthier company....

share the wealth.

[Stevepol]

20. Also works ala large financial institutions, to wit,

when executives are paid insane bonuses in order to motivate them to "keep up the good work" or "work harder," they end up bringing about ruin for the institution they're asstd with and, if the institution is large enough, ruin to an entire country.

If their salaries were only modestly above those of assembly-line workers in a factory (IMO probably already more than they're worth), they'd do bang-up work, small businesses would get appropriate loans, home owners would be counseled to act prudentially, and there would be a lot fewer foreclosures. IMO.

[Tansy_Gold]

25. YES!

I should've read your post first, because I posted almost the same thing.

GMTA.




TG

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Wow that is so so true!!

It's about making the world a better place, it's not about getting rich. This is very true of teachers.

[madfloridian]

23. When it becomes just about money, we all lose.

It's like there is contempt toward teachers and a lack of understanding about "learning".

[Tansy_Gold]

24. A LARGER REWARD LEADS TO POORER PERFORMANCE

Can anyone say "Wall Street bonuses"????

Is it possible -- and I confess I haven't watched the whole video because I just haven't had time -- that the outrageous bonuses paid to the bandits on Wall Street CAUSED them to perform more and more poorly? Did they take the money for granted and feel that they were entitled to it regardless what they did or didn't do to "earn" it?


I need to watch the whole thing.



TG