To choose only one learning experience from the workshop is rather difficult because I really enjoyed all of them from doing the Omar bin Al Khattab collages to the discussion about America’s schooling system. However, the one thing that really stuck to me and really got me thinking would be the debate topic. I can’t recall the exact wording of the sentence itself but it was regarding fear and whether it was an effective motivator for an individual to change his or her behavior.
After giving it a couple of seconds of thought I came to the conclusion that yes, fear is indeed an effective motivator for person to change behaviors. After all the best Muslim is the most God fearing. As Muslims living in this world do we strive to be the Muslim we are to enter the oh so tantalizing paradise or are we the Muslim we are out of fear from entering Hell? For many its the latter. Is fear then not an effective motivator?
With that being said I still believe that using fear as a motivator will have a more negative outcome than positive. At one point during the workshop Ameera asked the fellows how are we being treated like dogs. This question really threw me off. We either get good grades and get something in return from our parents or be a rebel by refusing to do that English paper and get detention perhaps. Why does everything seem have to have an either punishment or reward outcome? Similar to how dogs are treated. I felt that it all went back to the fear thing. Why do many people do most of the things they do out of fear for the punishment or fearing that they may not get a reward of some sort?
A couple of minutes into the workshop we were posed with the question "What moves a person from Belief to Action?". I wouldn't say fear is the BEST technique to move a person from belief to action not that it won't work, that is. Fear can be a motivator to move a person from belief to action but to use fear as a motivator you must do so in a delicate and balanced way to get a positive out come.
Why should we resort to fear when there are so many other motivating techniques. During the debate my fellow fellows ;) (lol) mentioned things like courage, self-esteem,religion, family and love. These outweigh fear as a motivator. I can officially say that Fear is an effective motivater but I definitely do not think that it is the best. Why should anyone be so stubborn that they have to be scared into doing something?
I wish I had all this to say during the Debate itself but most of my best thoughts come to me during the peace of night time. Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts :) Be sure to leave some comments.
After giving it a couple of seconds of thought I came to the conclusion that yes, fear is indeed an effective motivator for person to change behaviors. After all the best Muslim is the most God fearing. As Muslims living in this world do we strive to be the Muslim we are to enter the oh so tantalizing paradise or are we the Muslim we are out of fear from entering Hell? For many its the latter. Is fear then not an effective motivator?
With that being said I still believe that using fear as a motivator will have a more negative outcome than positive. At one point during the workshop Ameera asked the fellows how are we being treated like dogs. This question really threw me off. We either get good grades and get something in return from our parents or be a rebel by refusing to do that English paper and get detention perhaps. Why does everything seem have to have an either punishment or reward outcome? Similar to how dogs are treated. I felt that it all went back to the fear thing. Why do many people do most of the things they do out of fear for the punishment or fearing that they may not get a reward of some sort?
A couple of minutes into the workshop we were posed with the question "What moves a person from Belief to Action?". I wouldn't say fear is the BEST technique to move a person from belief to action not that it won't work, that is. Fear can be a motivator to move a person from belief to action but to use fear as a motivator you must do so in a delicate and balanced way to get a positive out come.
Why should we resort to fear when there are so many other motivating techniques. During the debate my fellow fellows ;) (lol) mentioned things like courage, self-esteem,religion, family and love. These outweigh fear as a motivator. I can officially say that Fear is an effective motivater but I definitely do not think that it is the best. Why should anyone be so stubborn that they have to be scared into doing something?
I wish I had all this to say during the Debate itself but most of my best thoughts come to me during the peace of night time. Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts :) Be sure to leave some comments.