What if it’s not about the grades?

The 2024-2025 ski racing season is underway. Mikaela Shiffrin, at the age of 29 holds the record for the most World Cup alpine skiing wins with 97. She blew past the previous record holder, Ingemar Stenmark, who had 86 wins. Stenmark’s record was set in 1989 and was thought to be unbeatable.

In alpine skiing, winners are commonly determined by tenths of a second. In a recent race, less than a second and a half separated the top eight racers (Zaccardi, 2024). All racers work to improve their technique in order to improve their speed. Their goal is not to win; their goal is to find a faster way down the mountain. Mikaela Shiffrin is no different from other top athletes in that way. Get faster; the wins will come (Armour, 2024).

That’s a great example of the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Are you working for the glory and the praise that comes with a win? Then you are extrinsically motivated. Or are you working to get better for the sake of getting better? Do you want to be the best you that you can be? Then you are intrinsically motivated.

Ask your students—in a free response format, index cards work fine—“Why are you in college?” (If you teach high school students, ask what they plan to do after high school, and then ask them why.)

For each card, read it silently to yourself to make sure the content is appropriate, then read it out loud. Ask your students if the motivation sounds more intrinsic, more extrinsic, or if there isn’t enough information to make a determination. In the case of college, if a student says they’re here to get a degree or to qualify for a job, their motivation is extrinsic. However, if they say they’re here to learn, their motivation is intrinsic.

Of course, this is all a bit more nuanced. I’ve had students tell me directly that they don’t care about my course because they’re not psychology majors. They were much more intrinsically motivated in courses that had prefixes that matched their major. My thought process after that was pretty straight-forward. If my students aren’t seeing why psychology matters to them, then I need to make it clear why psychology should matter to them. If I couldn’t explain why particular course content should matter, that course content got tossed.

Who is more likely to cheat? Those who are extrinsically motivated (Krou et al., 2021). A student who just wants the degree can cheat their way through college and get that degree without learning.

A student who wants to learn will do the work required for learning. The grades—and the degree—will follow as a natural byproduct. Just as the wins follow for skiers who work to get better.  

Here’s the million dollar question. How do we help students shift from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation?

References

Armour, N. (2024, October 25). Mikaela Shiffrin is using her records pursuit for good. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2024/10/25/mikaela-shiffrin-world-cup-milestone/75816994007/

Krou, M. R., Fong, C. J., & Hoff, M. A. (2021). Achievement motivation and academic dishonesty: A meta-analytic investigation. Educational Psychology Review, 33(2), 427–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-020-09557-7

Zaccardi, N. (2024, October 26). Federica Brignone becomes oldest woman to win Alpine skiing World Cup race. NBC Sports. https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/federica-brignone-mikaela-shiffrin-alpine-skiing-world-cup-soelden