Motivation through challenge

Every teacher is well aware of the importance of motivation in the performance of his students. It is a matter of common observation that a student of superior ability who loses his desire to learn quickly becomes an academic liability. Achievement seems to be something like the product of natural ability times motivation, integrated over the period of learning. Although the source of motivation is sometimes beyond the instructor's control, on the average it is the teacher himself who must take the responsibility for generating in his students not only the desire to learn but the will to do the work of learning. The thesis of this paper is that a strong intellectual challenge is the most effective means of motivation, and that electrical-engineering education over the past few years has developed in precisely this direction. One such program, based on a new kind of introductory course, is described.