I have known many parents who pay their children for honor roll grades. In some cases, this is okay. But, if you are a learning disabled (LD) student, the quality of your work does not reflect how hard you worked on it. Sometimes, your assignment looks great and is complete. Other times, it is a mess and there are lots of questions with no answers. This inconsistency can be due to a number of factors. For more information on this, see “What Does it Really Mean When a Child is Learning Disabled?" for help understanding the problems.
Problems with working memory, attention, vocabulary, anxiety, fear, or difficulty with executive functioning can all affect how an LD student performs in school. None of these relate to motivation. And none can be overcome by bribes to perform better.
For these reasons, I am against parents paying for grades in school. This is especially true for struggling students. Imagine working very, very hard and still getting a “D” or “F” on the work! Someone else whips off the assignment in just a few minutes and gets an “A.” Does that child deserve a reward when they rushed through and perhaps did not even do their best work? The LD child who is trying her best feels completely defeated in this situation. She gets more and more discouraged. She already calls herself “stupid,” and this, to her, confirms that verdict.
If you pay for good grades, consider whether or not you are being fair to all your children. If you are not sure, read "Is My Child Working Hard Enough in School?"
If that doesn’t convince you, read Nelson Lauver’s book Most Unlikely to Succeed. Lauver explains what happened to him in school when, no matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t successful. After reading his book, it should be clear why no one should judge another person’s motivation to learn.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.schoolfamily.com/
Comments
You know what I mean? In a lot of cases (I suspect) kids keep grades up in order to play sports is that a good thing or not??
I, too, don't agree with paying kids for grades. I believe we need to encourage intrinsic motivation which Robin mentioned (positive feedback). Countless studies have been done that show extrisic rewards (money) to have a short shelf life - once the reward is removed so is the "motivation". In addition, we tend to habituate easily, so in order to have the same effect, the reward needs to be increased.
Your point, Livia, that some kids put in a lot of effort but don't get the A or B, while others breeze through without effort is also important to keep in mind. Effort absoultely needs to be rewarded...just not with money.
(I'm taking her out for lunch btw as her 'reward' during the school day.. shhh don't tell on me!)
RSS feed for comments to this post