On the Post’s front page today: “D.C. Tries Cash as a Motivator In School: Initiative Is Aimed At Middle Grades”. And we’re not talking coupons from Pizza Hut.
Here’s the gist:
For years, school officials have used detention, remedial classes, summer school and suspensions to turn around poorly behaved, underachieving middle school students, with little results. Now they are introducing a program that will pay students up to $100 per month for displaying good behavior.
Beginning in October, 3,000 students at 14 middle schools will be eligible to earn up to 50 points per month and be paid $2 per point for attending class regularly and on time, turning in homework, displaying manners and earning high marks. A maximum of $2.7 million has been set aside for the program, and the money students earn will be deposited every two weeks into bank accounts the system plans to open for them.
The system has 28 middle-grade schools. Rhee will select the schools to participate in the pilot program.
Not surprisingly, the idea has unleashed howls among DC residents. I mentioned the story to C., who responded, “Can I move to DC? That’s $900!”
What’s puzzling is that for all the talk from the mayor of this being “out of the box,” it’s been tried elsewhere–and with decidedly mixed results. Just a few days ago the New York Times ran this story, “Mixed Results on Paying City Students to Pass Tests.” One quote in that article that I found interesting came from Kati Haycock, “director of the Education Trust, a Washington research group that works on closing the racial achievement gap.”
She said, “Frankly, rich kids get paid for high grades all the time and for high test scores by their parents,” Ms. Haycock added. “So this isn’t so different.”
Huh? Now where does this come from? I certainly don’t consider myself rich, so maybe that explains it, but I don’t know anyone who pays for grades. And neither do my daughters. How about you? Does this happen where you live? Do you/would you pay for grades? Do you offer non-monetary rewards?
[By the way, I was pleased to see a quote in the Post article from Alfie Kohn, who wrote "Punished by Rewards." I read him back when the kids were toddlers and it really impacted my thinking about education.]
I find this vile.
Personally, I think people should be grateful they HAVE an education and the opportunity to become educated in the public schools — especially since homeschool and private school are not viable options for many people. To PAY them to do what is the right thing is a genuine offense to me.
My parents used to pay my brother for As and Bs (not tons though, definitely not $100 a month!) and not pay me (because I got them anyways). I think I raised enough of a “fairness” stink that they did give me something for my As eventually.
Interestingly enough, the blog I just finished reading before I read this one had a post about rewards:
http://everywakinghour.blogspot.com/2008/08/rewards-as-short-circuits.html
For one brief time I resorted to fining Jason for every time he hit his brother…I knew that it was a short term fix but I needed something to get his attention. We actually talked about why I was resorting to this. And I was right in that we did not need to use it for very long…
My dad made the promise that he would buy me a new car after I graduated high school if I earned nothing less than an A- in every single class in every single quarter for all 4 years. It was definitely an added motivator for my freshman and sophomore years. I ended up struggling in math my junior and senior years so I didn’t get the car. But by that point I was focused on college admissions so I continued to work hard and kept my grades up in all my other classes. I graduated salutatorian, and got accepted to an Ivy caliber university.
I don’t think I’ll be making the same offer to my kids because it really places the focus too much on external markers of achievement rather than on true learning. Also, it increases the temptation to cheat- something I fortunately never did but I hear is now a huge problem in the high school I attended.
My parents gave us a dime for each A. Not a strong motivator, and we would have gotten the As anyway. Of course, in those days a dime was enough to buy a candy bar—I guess the current equivalent would be closer to $1 an A. I don’t offer that to my son, though, as I’m more interested in rewarding the things that actually take some effort.