Episode 162: Why Joy, Not Tests, Instills a Love of Learning in Children

Love of learning gets printed on mission statements, but too often gets lost in classrooms filled with scripts, worksheets, and test prep. I pull back the curtain on what the phrase actually means—an enduring, intrinsic joy in the act of learning—and how parents can help children move from fleeting curiosity to steady, self-driven growth.

I start by drawing a clear line between curiosity and a true love of learning. Curiosity can be satisfied quickly; love of learning persists through challenge and rewards the process, not just the product. From there, I look at school culture: why joy, safety, and belonging are not extras but essentials for attention, memory, and resilience. I also explore the developmental dip in confidence that often arrives around second or third grade, and what adults can do to protect motivation through those years.

Parents play a pivotal role. I discuss how values at home—reading for pleasure, modeling hobbies, honoring questions—shape a child’s identity as a learner. I examine the interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the power of self-efficacy, and the impact of responsive parenting on curiosity. To make this practical, I share five simple, high-impact strategies to instill a love of learning in your children.

If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with one way you spark curiosity at home. Your stories help other families grow a lasting love of learning.

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Chapters

• 1:01 Welcome & Host’s Origin Story
• 3:35 Defining Love Of Learning
• 7:59 Curiosity Versus Love Of Learning
• 10:47 School Culture, Joy, And Growth
• 15:40 Motivation: Home And School Roles
• 19:26 Why Love Of Learning Shrinks Over Time
• 22:56 Are Charter Schools A Better Fit?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:36

Welcome to another episode of K-12 Public Education Insights, Empowering Parents of Color Podcast. The podcast that converges at the intersection of educational research and parental actions. It's about making the trends, topics, and theories in public education understandable so that you can implement them into practical, actionable strategies that work for your children. My name is Dr. Kim J. Fields, former corporate manager, turned education researcher, and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African-American mom raising my two kids who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their educational progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of motherwood wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about the current information and issues in education that could affect you or your children, and the action steps you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 public education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. Give me 30 minutes or less, and I'll provide insights on the latest trends, issues, and topics pertaining to this constantly evolving K-12 public education environment. You've probably seen or heard the phrase love of learning in many school mission statements, nonprofit organization mission statements, job descriptions, teaching statements, performance reviews, and other situations. But what does a love of learning actually mean? Can we teach something intrinsically that schools aim to provide extrinsically? Or better yet, is this something that we should teach our children? What happens if we don't? I'm following up on a previous discussion I provided about instilling a love of learning in your children that I published three years ago. You can check that out in episode 68. What's new in this episode is that I discussed the relationship between curiosity, motivation, and love of learning. And the impact of how schools approach learning given a child's motivation and attitude toward learning. I also provide five ways you can help to stimulate your child's motivation and love of learning. Let's gain some insight on this. Human beings were born with a hunger to learn and a seemingly insatiable appetite for knowledge. Infants and young children are driven by their curiosity and an innate desire to explore, to interact with, and to make sense of their environment. For whatever reason, as children progress through the public education system, their love of learning gets quote unquote turned off. The students seem to be content to just slide by, doing the minimum required to advance to the next grade level. A love of learning seeks to cultivate, inspire, empower, foster, deepen, develop, achieve, stimulate, and embrace acquiring new knowledge and skills. The overarching premise of this phrase is that a child's love of learning is a ticket to future employment. Love of learning is driven by curiosity, a natural desire in most children. Children seem to have a foundational motivation toward asking questions that helps them learn new information and skills. Curiosity, however, does not imply learning necessarily. Curiosity can be satisfied, but it may not be sufficient for learning. On the other hand, if a child is curious about something, curiosity may lead to learning and questioning may end when curiosity has been satisfied. Therefore, curiosity is different from a love of learning. When someone is described as having a love of learning, this suggests something dynamic and continuous, which curiosity may not always be. Learning pursued out of curiosity may be different from that pursuit for a love of learning. Curiosity does not necessarily imply rigorous learning. Love of learning involves a rigorous pursuit of learning that differs from curiosity. Love of learning is less directed about the thing that is studied and focuses more on study itself. Love of learning makes the learning process more bearable or even enjoyable. Love of learning is to love learning itself. It is the excitement of learning something new and allowing the wave of curiosity to carry a child wherever it takes them. That joy, desire, and excitement is part of the intrinsic value of learning. It is what is meant by a love of learning. Love of learning is basically a spark of joy about engaging with new information. Some students wake up in the morning and they can't wait to go to school. This may be due to a great teacher who sets up the classroom in creative ways and puts students at the center of learning. Other students get out of bed and they can't wait to see their friends. School is not a place where they love to go because of learning. They love to go to school because they get to see their friends. And then there are other students who do well in school but they don't have friends to meet up with when they get there. These students learn no matter the situation, but they may not have friends to share experiences with. School is more than just focusing on academic learning and social emotional skills, but the social skills that children learn in school are just as important as academic skills. Schools seem to be caught in an academic learning versus growth phase. They have made more fuss about testing and accountability than learning. It's learning that produces growth. Schools should focus on quality learning and engagement rather than on scripts and worksheets. The love of learning occurs in school and out of school. Children have to first like school. Do their whole selves, including their emotions, their bodies, and their minds, feel good when they walk through the classroom door in the morning and when they walk out at the end of the day? Most schools are not designed to measure or care whether students are happy there, although some would argue that charter schools are more concerned about student happiness. More on that later. These schools are focused on primarily two things student achievement and student safety. That's why the intrinsic aspect of the love of learning is so important. The fact of the matter is that children who are happy learn more than children who are not happy. Between Monday and Friday, not counting the time that they are sleeping, children spend roughly 35 out of their 65 waking hours in school. So it needs to be a place that's not only safe and rigorous, but fun. It's important for teachers to realize that the children in their classroom are children first and students second. This is an important distinction. When they teach a class of students, their most important job is to make sure that students learn all the standards and do well on tests. Now, when they're teaching a class of children, their most important job is to ensure that those children thrive. A love of learning and motivation are interconnected. Internal and external environments can activate motivation into a love of learning. The external or extrinsic environment of school and the school's job is to help students develop a commitment to learn that sustains them even when a particular task seems too difficult or unappealing. The internal environment or the intrinsic factor of a child's motivation is developed through values and beliefs of the parent as far as the importance of learning and educating oneself. There's a direct correlation between motivation and underachievement. Students who are disengaged and disinterested in learning don't value learning for its own sake. If parents value learning for its own sake, and this value of education is evident in their everyday lives, then perhaps through activities like reading for pleasure or the pursuit of various hobbies. Children are more likely to develop a love of learning. Parents play a pivotal role in shaping their children's attitude toward learning. When children are toddlers, they begin to pick up powerful messages about learning based on what their parents respond to regarding their own curiosity about the world. Children raised by parents who provide them with a basic sense of self-worth and self-efficacy have positive attitudes toward learning, whereas children who have low self-esteem are inclined to avoid academic challenges because the risks inherent in learning threaten their fragile sense of self-worth. You need to encourage your children to take an interest in learning, not in doing their homework just to memorize facts, but actually take an interest in why they are learning and its application to their lives. When you nurture your children's natural curiosity about the world by welcoming their questions, encouraging exploration, and familiarizing them with resources that can enlarge their world, like the library, you are giving your children the message that learning is a worthwhile endeavor and that it's often fun, exciting, and satisfying. If, on the other hand, you are consistently unresponsive because you're on your cell phone, or you react with irritation or impatience when your children ask about things that intrigue them, over time, your children will probably curb their attempts to learn more about the world. Their natural interest in learning will eventually begin to fade, at least until someone crosses their path who encourages them to be curious once again. Why does a child's love of learning seem to shrink as he or she grows? One aspect of this answer depends on the parent's responsiveness to their children, the level of emotional security a parent provides, because emotional security influences the child's confidence in learning as well as their motivation to learn. And it also depends on the parent's attitude towards school and education. Parents who have a positive educational experience during their childhood and place a premium on formal education will more likely think of school and teachers in a positive light. They are more likely to initiate a relationship with school personnel and exhibit a high level of participation and involvement in their children's education. Also, if these parents believe that their children are being shortchanged in the classroom, they are very likely to advocate vigorously for their children's educational needs. Sound familiar? Another aspect of answering the question pertaining to why a child's love of learning seems to shrink as he or she grows depends on developmental changes of the child, given that their beliefs about effort and ability, success and failure change as children mature. As children develop, their perceptions of ability change. Research indicates that children's expectations for success at academic performance remains high until around the second or third grade and then continues to decrease on average throughout elementary school. Children's views of themselves have powerful implications for their motivation to learn, which affects their love of learning. In the end, above all else that's been discussed, one of the key differentiators in children developing a love of learning or not, is whether they experience a sense of caring and connection at home with their parents or family, or at school with their teachers. I discussed earlier how charter schools seem to be different than other public schools because of their focus on student happiness. So are charter schools a cure for enhancing a love of learning? Successful public charter schools combine all the elements that make schools joyful and fun. Each child is typically given individual attention. Parents are required to make a commitment to the children's schooling, and there's a spirit of community in the schools that unite all stakeholders. One thing that public charter schools offer is choice. There are choices for the teachers that work there, choices for parents who send their children there, and choices for the children who attend there to pursue their strengths and overcome their weaknesses with carefully crafted and differentiated curricula. Perhaps public schools should ease up on the focus of assessments and teaching to the test and focus on instilling a love of learning for the students in their care. So, what can you do with the information I just shared? Here are the action steps you can take regarding instilling a love of learning in your children. For the most part, children learn best when they are motivated. Some children are self-motivated and come to school ready and willing to learn, while others seem to lack the same degree of drive. Here are some ways to motivate your reluctance to learn children and thereby instill a love of learning for them. 1. Give your child more control over what they want to learn by asking them engaging questions that build curiosity as well as confidence. Give them general directions and let the child determine how they would complete the task. 2. Encourage your child's belief in his or her own abilities. Children have to feel like they're capable of accomplishing a task, at least to some level. 3. Practice the art of questioning by cultivating a child's natural curiosity to enhance self-motivation. Cultivate an environment where children feel free to ask why. This creates a culture where asking why is the norm. Four, model your own enthusiasm for learning. Talk about projects that you're excited to get started on and what motivates you to work on a project, especially if it's a hobby of yours. If you're excited about reading a book, let your children know why you're excited about it. Your enthusiasm for learning is infectious for even the youngest learners. And number five, make fun a high priority. When something's fun, children as well as adults complete the activity more willingly and with enthusiasm. Providing opportunities that connect academics to play increases your child's motivation. For example, if your child is learning to write, have them practice writing by drawing in sand or by writing letters or words in chalk on the driveway. The more fun it is, the more they'll practice, and they won't even know that they're learning. Here are this episode's takeaways. A love of learning seeks to Cultivate, inspire, empower, foster, deepen, develop, achieve, stimulate, and embrace acquiring new knowledge and skills. The overarching premise of the phrase is that a child's love of learning is the ticket to future employment. Love of learning makes the learning process more bearable or even enjoyable. Love of learning is to love learning itself. It is the excitement of learning something new and allowing the wave of curiosity to carry a child wherever it takes them. That joy, desire, and excitement is part of the intrinsic value of learning. It's what is meant by love of learning. School is more than just focusing on academic learning and social emotional skills, but the social skills that children learn in school are just as important as academic skills. Schools seem to be caught up in this academic learning path versus growth. They have made more fuss about testing and accountability than learning. It's learning that produces growth. Schools should focus on quality learning and engagement rather than on scripts and worksheets. A love of learning and motivation are interconnected. Internal and external environments can activate motivation into a love of learning. The external or extrinsic environment of a school and the school's job is to help students develop a commitment to learn that students then will have over particular tasks that seem too difficult or unappealing. The internal environment, that intrinsic factor of a child's motivation, is developed through values and beliefs of the parent as far as the importance of learning and educating oneself. Now it's my turn to hear from you. How have you been able to instill a love of learning in your children? Let me know by leaving me a text comment on my podcast website, k12educationinsights.budsprout.com. Here's how you leave that text comment. Go to the episode description page and click on the Send Me a Text Message link. Again, it's K12Education Insights.budsprout.com. If you enjoyed this episode, why not listen to another episode from my catalog? It could take as little as 15 minutes of your day. And remember, new episodes come out every Tuesday. Thanks for listening today. Be sure to come back for more insights on K-12 educational topics that impact you and your children. And remember to share my podcast with anyone that you think would find it valuable. That includes your friends, family, and your community. Until next time, learn something new every day.