Justified and judicious appreciation

It is a general belief that appreciation is the best recognition. It has also been  a general practice to appreciate people who do good and noble deeds.This is considered to motivate them to do better in future.But some psychologist and the educationists put a question to, too much of appreciation, specially in case of the children.Even the adults expect words of appreciation for exemplary things done by them, though it may be the part of their duty that they were expected to complete.An article in one of the weekly magazines made me to contemplate about this.During the Kargil war, our forces demonstrated extraordinary skills to defeat the enemy and won back our territories from the clutches of the infiltrators from the neighbouring nation.Many brave soldiers made the supreme sacrifice for the cause of their motherland.Those who showed exemplary courage, were adorned with prestigious medals. During this war one officer had helped the Indian forces to get an accurately fair idea about the army formation of the army of the other country.The officer was working with the MI branch which is responsible for the intelligence input and the officer did very well in the given situations. After the war was over the same officer expected appreciation in the form of medal or citation. The army did not find him worth the same.The officer concerned went to army tribunal and asked for the direction to the army so that his efforts could be recognised. The case is still pending but important point made by the then chief of army staff, General V.P Malik is worth considering.As per his statement the officer had done a good job but this was the part of his duty which everyone was supposed to fulfill.This was the statement which made me to think about the merits and the demerits of appreciation and motivation.

Should we do our job to get something in return or do it for the sake of our satisfaction? To do the service for the country is the responsibility and the duty of all of us then why to expect a reward always? The reward will be justified if the person does something more than what is expected as per the duty charter of the individuals. If somebody exhibits extraordinary courage and out of box thinking which brings glory to the organisation and the society, then the reward is very much justified.

I was going through some article regarding the worries and the concern of the parents of young children aged between three to thirteen years. Many of the parents were quite concerned about the eating habits,concentration span,physical exercise ,the grades in academics and the behavior of the children. When they were asked about the steps taken by them to take care of these problems, most of them told that they offer the children one or the other thing of their liking, if they eat proper food or complete their work.The appreciation was in the form of toys,electronic gadgets or taking them out for picnics. To me this appears more of a bribe than the motivation because the children are not made aware of the importance of eating healthy food but they eat it because they will get something of their choice in lieu of that.This is not the right approach because it leads to a situation where when they grow,they expect something in return on completion of every task.This is not the fault of the children but somebody else who made them habitual of such expectations. Here I should not be misunderstood that appreciation or the award or reward is always wrong but the point emphasised is that the award or reward should be the byproduct of the work done and the product should be the self satisfaction of the individual.If the kids are to be motivated then the reward  should be such which helps the children to learn more and does not terminate the learning.For example, if some children in the class are not showing interest in eating the food the teacher might ask them to finish it fast then she would narrate a story to them or if they finish the work in time then they will be taken to the games field  and enjoy any game. You must have noticed that though the children were lured by something to complete the previous assignment but that was also involving the child in the learning process.Suppose if the child has shown an exemplary performance in academics,he can be rewarded with books or other products that help him to enhance his erudition.Even if a child is good at music or dance, could be given musical intruments that might enable him to hone his skill.We need to understand that the children should be taught to complete their work because that will make them to learn something which will help them and the society. They should not be made habitual of getting reward for everything done by them.Let them learn to learn for the sake of learning and not for appreciation necessarily as learning and performing to the best of ones capabilities is the best appreciation one can get for oneself and it also gives utmost satisfaction.