Money for Grades

Story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-money-for-grades-11-sep11,0,4916582,print.story

According to the above news article, Schools in New York are going to begin paying students for getting good grades. Private organizations will give kids 30 dollars for a C, 40 dollars for a B, and 50 dollars for an A. By the end of sophomore year, a student could earn $4,000.

My gut reaction to this is that it's a bad idea. Students shouldn't be learning for the sake of money, they should be learning to expand their horizons, become self reliant, build confidence and competence, and to interact with their classmates and community. Paying kids to get good grades sounds like bribery, and introducing this system could strain the teacher/student relationship.

But then I read a blog entry at http://mises.org/Community/blogs/duffmann808/archive/2008/09/12/paying-students-to-get-good-grades.aspx and completely changed my mind on the matter. The author here states that "These people [parents receiving government money] have children who end up going to the Chicago inner city schools, and have no incentive to work hard. The reason they have no incentive to work hard? Their parents have no work ethic, because they have been bred on the belief that things will be given to them for free." Basically what he's giving his readers is a nature vs. nurture argument, saying that students raised by parents with no work ethic will also have no work ethic because they observe rewards being given for laziness. I personally think this argument is flawed because, even though these children see their parents getting money, they still must have some sense that they are living in poverty and that the money they receive is only what they need to get by. Children are not necessarily comfortable in this setting.

The author then somehow twists and bends this flawed argument until it turns into a new one: "Money created this problem, and the cause of a problem is never a solution." Really? Homer Simpson once said that beer is the cause and solution to all of the world's problems. A blog author calling himself "Duffman" should know better. If you ask me though, money didn't create the problem. A lack of money created the problem! Chicago students living in poverty could certainly benefit from an extra $4,000. It could show students the connection between working hard and earning money.

So why not try it? It could really work. We won't know if students really retain the information they learn with money as an incentive until we actually try it and document the results. That's what the study is accomplishing right now and I'll be interested in hearing the results.


Other related news articles:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-01-27-grades_N.htm
http://www.edutopia.org/pay-prizes-reward-student-performance

Other related blogs/opinion articles:
http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/school/grades.html