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Each time I teach the chapter on money and central banks in my macro principles course, I show a YouTube clip from Mary Poppins with the "Fidelity Fiduciary Bank" song that ends with the bank run. When I return to my office, more often than not, I watch the pieces of the clip that I skipped in class, hum the song to myself and try to understand all the lyrics, and watch more YouTube videos about Dick Van Dyke's auditions and the making of the film.

My officemate caught me doing this and inquired about the cause of my distraction. We began talking about students. YouTube is great, but it is also a little dangerous. While I would certainly be pleased if my students saw a video (about bank runs) and wanted to learn more from other videos (about the making of a classic film), it seems unlikely that students would choose to learn more about course content. I'm left wondering what I want them to do. Do I want them to learn economics? Do I just want them to want to learn? Do I want them to investigate things, even if they are unrelated to their original task? Do I want them to practice focusing on a task? What is my ultimate goal for them after leaving the course, and where in the tradeoff between content and other knowledge/skills is the balance that best supports that goal?

We want students to be focused and self-motivated, but might some of our inspiring techniques reduce the expectations for students to focus and self-motivate?

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