By Tjaden Sinclair, Certified Consumer Credit Counselor
The Village Family Service Center
www.HelpWithMoney.org
Should we pay students for good grades?
The idea of paying students for good grades is not new, but it is migrating out of the home and into the hands of privately funded initiatives. Several organizations across the nation are not only advocating the compensation of elementary and high school students for good grades, but providing the funding to do so. This interesting social experiment has been funded in many areas of the United States for as much as $1.5 million.
An article on the National Education Association website, discusses the phenomenon in greater detail. The article brings to mind a series of questions:
Could this be a good solution to many of the problems associated with poor student performance?
What kind of values does this teach children about money?
How much better or worse would you have done in school if programs like this were available when you were in school?
If the programs prove to be successful should state or federal funding be made available to make the programs more uniform?
I don’t have the answers, but I do think it’s important to start asking the questions. We need to find out if this truly is a good motivator for kids to learn, or if spending the money in other areas of education would be more effective.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you reward your children for good grades? If so, what do you do and how does it work? What do you think about organizations funding Cash for Grades programs?
