Paying kids for good grades?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Parents should instil an understanding of the importance of an education. Preferably the importance of learning, not just the importance of passing a test.

[AmpedSilence]

Originally Posted by Phalex

My parents tried everything back when I was in school. Beatings didn't work, grounding me didn't work, and offering to pay me for good grades didn't work either.

The very real and believable threat of being sent away to a military academy, on the other hand.......

It didn't work that well, but it did work.

I guess some kids are just hammer heads, but if a kid is motivated by the promise of payment, well, that's pretty much how a job works and isn't a bad life lesson IMO.

I was a bit of a knucklehead as well. My parents had bought me an N64 when it had first come out. I didn't get to open/use it until I brought satisfactory grades home on my next report card.
I bombed most subjects, my parents returned the N64 and I never had a console until I could buy my own lol... but I eventually wised up in HS and did well enough.

[Bloodhammer]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Parents should instil an understanding of the importance of an education. Preferably the importance of learning, not just the importance of passing a test.

My teachers made it explicitly clear to me that it was all about passing tests. There was two or three "big ones" that were said to "put a black mark on our permanent record" if we didn't pass them. And they weren't the kinds you could take a remedial class for and re-take.

Of course, the public school system around here works pretty much exactly like the DMV, only diplomas take the place of drivers' licenses. I used to joke with my friends that we were really being prepared for the coming bureaucratic/institutional communist state rather than being educated to be successful individuals. (No, I didn't actually believe that - it was a joke)

[Luke19Boarder]

My parents paid us for good grades (a certain amount for each letter, bonuses to make the scholars list, etc). They made it clear, though, that they weren't "bribing" us to study more, but were doing it as a way to show how proud they were of our accomplishments.

I would have gotten the exact same grades had they not had the system - but it was a nice perk!

[LiquidMidnight]

As has been stated earlier, you get paid to be productive in the "real world," and most children, with the exception of the most conscientious, don't have the foresight to really understand the value of education. With that said, IME, the world isn't a meritocracy, even if adults in school and Russian-born novelists writing about railroads try to state otherwise. I went to a small school, which means nepotism and sports were probably a bigger factor in the privilege you recieved than any academic excellence. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right last name or play sports; there wasn't much incentive in that world to throw oneself into studies. While instilling excellence in kids (so as long as it isn't done in a heavy-handed, kids have no life kinda way) is good; it's also important that parents and adults explain to kids that the real world doesn't always reward merit, and sometimes will actually punish it (ask anyone who has been turned down for a job for being "overqualified"). Getting good grades is one part of the equation. Young people should also know how to navigate the political world and be able to market themselves. That's something I try to instill in students when I do my career development day gig.

I was an average student in HS. I did struggle with some subjects. Looking back, I wonder if my cognitive development was a little behind some of my classmates. I was actually very young for my class; my parents had the option of letting me wait another year before I started Kintergarden, but I ended up starting as soon as I could. I wish I had recieved higher grades, but I don't know if I really could have if I tried. I ended up graduating college summa cum laude. As far as I know, I'm the only person from my graduating class to have gone on to doctoral study. Was I an intellectual late bloomer? I honestly don't know.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Bloodhammer

My teachers made it explicitly clear to me that it was all about passing tests. There was two or three "big ones" that were said to "put a black mark on our permanent record" if we didn't pass them. And they weren't the kinds you could take a remedial class for and re-take.

Of course, the public school system around here works pretty much exactly like the DMV, only diplomas take the place of drivers' licenses. I used to joke with my friends that we were really being prepared for the coming bureaucratic/institutional communist state rather than being educated to be successful individuals. (No, I didn't actually believe that - it was a joke)

So did most of my teachers. It took a while to try and iron out that mentality, to realise I should be passing tests because I know the course, not because I know how to pass an exam.

[bootsox]

I was one of those students who only ever did the bare minimum. My senior year, my English teacher put $10 on the table saying I wouldn't be able to graduate that year.

She still owes me that $10. The funny thing is that I worked hard to pass as a sort of "**** you" and likely would have failed if she wasn't such a bitch.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by bootsox

I was one of those students who only ever did the bare minimum. My senior year, my English teacher put $10 on the table saying I wouldn't be able to graduate that year.

She still owes me that $10. The funny thing is that I worked hard to pass as a sort of "**** you" and likely would have failed if she wasn't such a bitch.

My final year Physics teacher said to me that she'd "understand" I didn't show up for the exam, because I wouldn't pass it. I got a C, so, not a very good pass, but a pass all the same.

I also hold a more advanced degree in Physics than she does, potentially even more so depending on how well this year goes

[papilgee4evaeva]

My parents paid us for good report cards (pay per A). And and as I got to 6th grade, they grounded us for substandard ones (meaning Cs, which I got for being lazy).

Even still, they didn't have to. I was always self-motivated in school (still am), and the money was a nice perk.

I do plan on continuing the tradition with my children. But since my wife and I are both educators, we're already stressing the value of learning for learning's sake.

[Ziltoid]

My dad would take me for lunch to a restaurant during a school day for every 100% I scored until high-school. It was a cool reward.

[aborgman]

Originally Posted by Strat-Mangler

The kid, in my opinion, would therefore end up working only to get a reward and potentially not have any pride in his/her work. Also, you seriously run the risk of needing to provide a reward of some kind for anything that is considered work by the kid whether it's doing homework, doing chores, going to a family outing when they don't feel like it, etc.

So in other words it would be the same as their life is going to be AFTER school when they enter the workforce?

[CauliColin]

My sister (guitarist) got bribed a Gibson SG (the guitar she wanted) if she did well in her GCSE exams. She did very well. I have been offered the same if I do better than her in terms of number of higher grades. It certainly is an incentive, especially when added onto the prospect of having some good things to put on your CV.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

A Gibson, for GCSEs?

Bloomin' eck.

[Roscoe East]

Incentivising performance isn't a guarantee of success; my understanding is that there are just as many reasons why it doesn't work as why it does (or should), and that's just speaking "theoretically" and/or in generalizations. Specific examples no doubt show a pattern so all-over-the-map that I doubt anyone can say unequivocally that it "works".

fwiw my parents never paid me for getting good grades...but sometime early in my senior year of high school, when it looked possible that I had so severely trashed my reputation as a Good Student that graduation was not a given, my Dad took me aside and said "When you graduate I'll buy you a nice guitar." It was weird; aside from a tiny allowance my parents had never before incentivised anything I did with money, and the fact that for most of my early school years I'd been a model A student but now was possibly destined to be a f**k-up made it seem surreally awkward. Ultimately I don't think I viewed that guitar as a reward or payment, just a validation that A) I was capable of achieving a goal, and B) my Dad loved me and wanted to show it in a way he knew I would appreciate.

I don't have kids of my own, so it's hard for me to fathom how I'd answer the question if I did. Right now I'll swear up and down that I would never pay my kids for getting good grades.

I might penalize them for getting poor grades...but not monetarily.

[Tituscrow]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

A Gibson, for GCSEs?

Bloomin' eck.

That's nothing. I've lost count of the number of cars, holidays and gadgets that have been dished out to kids at GCSE and A level over the years.

But you know what? As several posters have said, working hard for remuneration is what working for a living is all about.

Is a coal-miner 'bribed' with cash to go down a mine? Is a firefighter 'bribed' with cash to enter a burning building? Am I 'bribed' with cash to spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in a building with 11-18 year olds? No. It's called working.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Tituscrow

That's nothing. I've lost count of the number of cars, holidays and gadgets that have been dished out to kids at GCSE and A level over the years.

But you know what? As several posters have said, working hard for remuneration is what working for a living is all about.

Is a coal-miner 'bribed' with cash to go down a mine? Is a firefighter 'bribed' with cash to enter a burning building? Am I 'bribed' with cash to spend 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in a building with 11-18 year olds? No. It's called working.

I just see it as the education itself being the form of remuneration. Self betterment and all that.

[Tituscrow]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

I just see it as the education itself being the form of remuneration. Self betterment and all that.

Ideologically, I agree. Realistically, I'm not so sure

[jugglingfreak]

Originally Posted by Strat-Mangler

The kid, in my opinion, would therefore end up working only to get a reward and potentially not have any pride in his/her work. Also, you seriously run the risk of needing to provide a reward of some kind for anything that is considered work by the kid whether it's doing homework, doing chores, going to a family outing when they don't feel like it, etc.

So, you work for free at your job? I mean, if they paid you, you wouldn't take pride in your work and would only be working for a paycheck.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

I just see it as the education itself being the form of remuneration. Self betterment and all that.

Originally Posted by Tituscrow

Ideologically, I agree. Realistically, I'm not so sure

Yeah, that'll only work on the nerds. I never had good grades growing up, because I held a hard stance that school work should be done at school, not at home. That didnt stop me from getting an education though.

Id probably have gotten much better grades had I a financial incentive.

[jmattbassplaya]

Originally Posted by jugglingfreak

So, you work for free at your job? I mean, if they paid you, you wouldn't take pride in your work and would only be working for a paycheck.

Oddly enough, this is the exact same argument we see in Band Management all the time regarding musicians and being paid on gigs. You can get paid and take pride in your work. It's not always a one or the other sort of thing