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Parents, if your student is an A student and enjoys school, you can skip this. Congratulations, your student shows natural maturity. But for a wider swath of students, they seem to be smart, with high potential but lacking motivation. It’s not their fault. Our standard education and society’s perspectives are failing them.

This topic is inspired by a famous presentation topic in the software industry, “sell the why.” The sales and marketing teams at software vendors rally around this mantra. It simply means that customers don’t care about your product’s features. They want to know WHY they should buy your product. What’s the business outcome that warrants a purchase of the product? It turns out, this concept might just be the key to dramatically improve the education system and particularly inspire the drive for students to learn and their success at learning.

Looking at movements to improve the education system, they seem to focus on the “what” and the “how.” But not the “why” so much, which seems to be taken for granted by adults. Adults seem to simply instruct children, “just learn this; it’s foundational, and it will be important when you grow up.” That’s an unimaginably far off period for an 8- or 10-year old. And their motivation suffers.

What about today for such students? Young people are naturally bursting with curiosity and energy. Our standard education system seems focused on crushing that out of them, in the name of test scores. What if we could capture both curiosity as well as the fun (as we see in video games) as an engine of learning? After all, Einstein recognized, “play is the highest form of research.”  

We see “what” to teach:

• STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), because they are important for society’s needs
• Writing, because communication is critical
• Reading, because it’s the source of knowledge

And we are bombarded with “how” to teach:

• “Recruit, hire, train, and retain the best teachers.” But as we see, that’s more expensive than society wants or can pay.
• Use online resources like Khan Academy.
• Use a combination of visual, written, and physical methods.
• Have the student “teach the teacher” to show understanding of the topic
• Immerse the student in “doing.”

There’s a saying: “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it.” There’s an astounding amount of educational resources online. Access to knowledge is no longer a bottleneck for education. Imagine how much effective learning would be if students were EAGER to go to school and learn. Teaching them the “whys” – there are more than one -- is a key to driving such motivation.

Rarely do we see a methodical, daily ritual of telling students, “why” they are studying. It’s important for driving self-motivation. The teachers might say it at the beginning of the semester and periodically throughout the semester. Is that enough? Should it be daily? Multiple times daily?

First, recognize oftent times we don’t even offer any “why.” Instead, we tend of offer commands: “Just learn it. Because I said so. It’s important for your future” (a decade or so from now). 

But let’s get to "the why's." There are different types of “why's”:

1.  1st why: “Master a given subject.” It’s the classic “why” that we tell students. “You need to master this so you can understand and do well on the next subjects. It’s a stair-step progression.”

But maybe we can reframe it in a more “big picture form.” 

For example for the subject of Science, a student might ask, “Why am I learning about Science? I hate Science!” A useful response could be, “You are learning science to learn about systems. 

Systems are integral to our lives. Here’s how. Systems are all around us, and we need them to survive and thrive. To understand science is to understand the truths of the universe, and we need to navigate the universe in daily life.” For example:

a.  Biology: It’s about “living systems.” What are the “things”, how are they “related,” and how they interoperate to drive a living system, eg, plant or animal.

b.  Chemistry (inorganic): It’s about “inorganic systems.” What are the “things”, how are they “related,” and how they interoperate to drive complex behaviors between chemicals and states of matter.

c.  Physics: It’s about the “dynamics of the universe’s system,” i.e., the nature of things of the universe (eg, mass, light) and how energy is transferred between objects (eg, laws of motion, potential and kinetic energy).

2.   2nd Why: Because we want you to get good test scores, eg:

a.  Grade Point Average (GPA)

b.  Standardized test scores for university entrance (eg, SAT, ACT in the USA)

These are pragmatically very important to have OPTIONS to continue education at a higher level. They are a means to an end. They are not important unto themselves. Students must understand this. Unfortunately, the education system and society weigh this category as most important. It’s not. #3 is most important. Unfortunate outcomes of teaching for scores are numerous:

i.  Students cheat on homework and tests because they are pressured for a grade.

j.  Teachers turn a blind eye to cheating, because students with higher grades infers the teachers are teaching well.

k.  Schools build systems and processes around scores, instead of a love of learning.

l.  Students develop mental health issues because they lack motivation and are striving towards seemingly unreachable goals that they don’t really want anyway

m. Parents are stressed their kids are not hitting scores to go to the right university, instead of trusting that a love of learning will propel them in life no matter what.

3.  3rd Why: It’s about learning. And developing the love of learning. This is the knowledge that will help students build skills to lead the life they want and to contribute to society. Some example of the “3rd why”:

o Geometry: you are learning tools and how to use those to solve problems. Geometry shows us how to build tools (eg, theorems) and use those tools to solve new problems. It’s exercise for the brain in building logic. You need that powerful skill do do well in your work.

o History: provides examples of environments, constraints, and contexts to understand human behaviors and human history’s course. When you have this knowledge, you can understand a person from a given society better. You can understand current events better, and you can navigate difficult conversations better. You can make suggestions in an informed way. There’s an expression,” those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” 

o Literature: Forces us to explore and decipher a writer’s thoughts for a wider meaning that enriches our lives and helps us think with different perspectives. You are learning how to look for the symbolism in what authors are seeking to convey. This helps your critical thinking and for you to articulate powerful messages in powerful ways. This helps us communicate and to understand others.

Does teaching “the whys” fix education? No, of course not. Education is a multi-faceted things that includes the “what” and the “how.” But it’s an indispensable concept that serves as the engine of learning. And we are neglecting it as a society in terms of a daily ritual for students. Once it’s solved, our young people will realize their full potential, and society will too.