Motivation...

I am currently reading Daniel Pink's book Drive. He states that we are all born intrinsically motivated. He provides evidence of this by describing a baby who falls down over and over when they are trying to learn how to walk, but yet continues to get back every time! There have been several companies that offer opportunities to work at home and even devote some of their work day to solving problems that do not pertain to their careers. This practice has developed a more intrinsically motivated staff and they actually work outside their normal work day for the sheer sense of accomplishment and self-improvement. There is no belief in the practice of "doing the least amount of work possible." Could this practice be replicated in public education? There obviously becomes a time when some people lose that intrinsic motivation, or it begins to disappear. When and why does this happen? If we worked to find this answer and stop doing whatever it is that tends to make this happen, what would the future look like for our students?