Think about being a teenager and feeling like school is just about taking tests you may or may not be interested in, after which someone will judge whether or not you're smart. No one's going to be inspired by that.
Unproductive effort is never a good thing.
One very common thing is that often very brilliant children stop working because they're praised so often that it's what they want to live as - brilliant - not as someone who ever makes mistakes. It really stunts their motivation.
We say women have made great strides: in biology, in many areas of chemistry, in many places, women are now the majority of medical students. But when I began my career, that wasn't the case. There were very strong stereotypes in biology and medicine.
We're not saying people don't need fuel for strenuous work; they just don't need it constantly. People have many more resources at hand than they might think.
The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn.
