I believe this comes from within for my daughter. My husband and I are the same way. My husband is so used to being at the top of the class or at work that he is almost afraid to learn anything new. I can see this in my daughter (11) sometimes. I "force" new experiences on them all the time. I am a "learning for learning's sake" type of person.
I remember teaching my daughter Spanish when we were living near Mexico and it was all around us. She was about seven then. Her reponse was that she did not know Spanish. This scared me and reminded me of her dad. So, I knew that I had to work on this trait.
She woke up at five o'clock on the last day of her school that she attended to complete a brochure for class. I kept telling her that it would not even be graded before she left and that her teacher did not need her work. She felt she had to get it done - and did. This happens all the time for her.
