And the problem with that answer is that it doesn't lead to engagement or interest and that means it doesn't lead to learning. It's a bad answer.

I also disagree that there needs to be justification. I don't think students' minds work like that. What's needed is something different and probably many kinds of something different since there's many kinds of learners.

So far, a huge percentage of students are getting left behind when teachers and material fail to have a good answer.

> And the problem with that answer is that it doesn't lead to engagement or interest and that means it doesn't lead to learning. It's a bad answer.

With an insufficiently developed brain, there is no answer that leads to engagement or interest.

Sometimes you'll find yourself telling kids "How do you know you won't like it unless you try it?"

If you, personally, claim to have never told a kid that specific sentence (regardless of context), I have serious doubts that you actually have kids.

Sometimes engagement and interest only come after the kid has been forced through a little bit of it.

They are children; you can't always reason with them because they have not yet developed sufficient reasoning skills. Making the claim that reasoning is all you need to get children to do the right thing is plain nonsense.

> I also disagree that there needs to be justification.

Sounds like we're in agreement, after all? I also don't think there needs to be a justification for "You need to learn Maths". This is why I said an answer along the lines of "you'll understand why later" is all you can do when asked for a justification.