NYC 7th Graders Receive Cash for High Grades on Standardized Tests

NYC 7TH GRADERS RECEIVE CASH REWARDS FOR HIGH GRADES ON STANDARDIZED TESTS - New York Post

Interesting. I think this is actually a good idea. Some kids just aren't motivated to learn by the idea that many years in the future, they'll have a chance at getting a better-paying job. I can't say I blame them...most adults aren't motivated by that logic either.

By rewarding students for their hard work NOW, schools provide an incentive to learn.

Parents often punish or reward their children based on their grades.

Does that mean that the government is a parent now? I'm uneasy about this.

Dav said:

Parents often punish or reward their children based on their grades.

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And those that do tend to be better parents than those who don't (although there are exceptions). And their kids tend to do better.

Dav said:

Does that mean that the government is a parent now? I'm uneasy about this.

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I think it's hard to argue with the results. I think schools would be better off spending more money on things that have shown to be effective (e.g. cash rewards for students, better teacher pay, more school days) and less money on things that have not (e.g. smaller class size, state-of-the-art computers).

Eh, if it works it works :shrug:

BS. move me to NYC. If i had this kind of reward, I'd be less bitter about my 35 on my ACT a few years back. Rewards? Psssh, after my parents found out, they signed me up to take ANOTHER test.

I appreciate the results, but it still seems shallow to me. Although, I guess people will always respond to material reward much more readily than they would to a moral/value imperative.

Orius said:

I appreciate the results, but it still seems shallow to me. Although, I guess people will always respond to material reward much more readily than they would to a moral/value imperative.

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Most students aren't mature enough to appreciate that hard work will get them more money in the distant future (and neither are most adults). Whereas everyone can appreciate more money right now. And I agree that people are more motivated by money than by moral imperatives...that's partly why communism didn't work.

From personal experience, I know I didn't care at all about my grades from K-4, but fortunately I had enough natural ability to do OK anyway. At that stage in my life, any reward from working hard was an unfathomably long time in the future. From 5-9 grade, my only motivation to succeed was for my parents not to get pissed off if I came home with bad grades. In 10-11 grade, I actually was motivated to do well because the possibility of getting into a good college was both perceivable and relatively short-term. And in 12th grade, once all my college applications were in, I stopped caring completely.

I was never motivated by money to go to school, but by what I wanted to do in life. All the people I knew in high school who pursued their education based on future potential earnings alone are people who (as of my high school reunion [p.s. horrible, by the way]) are now terminally unhappy individuals that don't know how to change their circumstances because they only know how to pursue material award.

If you hone in on the dreams of young people, that is a far better incentive to get them to do work than money. The material reward will come anyway with focused potential.

Orius said:

I was never motivated by money to go to school, but by what I wanted to do in life. All the people I knew in high school who pursued their education based on future potential earnings alone are people who (as of my high school reunion [p.s. horrible, by the way]) are now terminally unhappy individuals that don't know how to change their circumstances because they only know how to pursue material award.

If you hone in on the dreams of young people, that is a far better incentive to get them to do work than money. The material reward will come anyway with focused potential.

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In some cases, yes. But in many other cases, the material reward will ASSIST them in realizing their potential. If you pay kids to study, they don't forget everything they've learned once the rewards stop. There are far too many kids who slip through the cracks because they don't see any benefit to going to school. This would provide them with an immediate benefit that they could understand.

Kandahar said:

In some cases, yes. But in many other cases, the material reward will ASSIST them in realizing their potential. If you pay kids to study, they don't forget everything they've learned once the rewards stop. There are far too many kids who slip through the cracks because they don't see any benefit to going to school. This would provide them with an immediate benefit that they could understand.

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By developing critical thinking from a young age, you don't need to string them along so that they retain stuff for later. They'll understand why it is they're learning what they're learning, instead of learning for the material reward. Once the reward is gone, they'll simply look for an alternative for making the reward instead of doing something they are passionate about.

It makes me think of all those people I met in college who had no idea why they were taking the degree they were taking, but they just wanted a degree because, in theory, having a degree would land them a "good job" and more money, even though they had no idea what career they wanted to be in. These people were doomed to failure.

Paying kids to learn is giving up on teaching them real values.

Orius said:

By developing critical thinking from a young age, you don't need to string them along so that they retain stuff for later. They'll understand why it is they're learning what they're learning, instead of learning for the material reward. Once the reward is gone, they'll simply look for an alternative for making the reward instead of doing something they are passionate about.

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I disagree. Once the reward is gone, they'll be intelligent high school graduates who have excellent opportunities for college and/or work, as opposed to high school dropouts.

Orius said:

It makes me think of all those people I met in college who had no idea why they were taking the degree they were taking, but they just wanted a degree because, in theory, having a degree would land them a "good job" and more money, even though they had no idea what career they wanted to be in. These people were doomed to failure.

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But the difference is they chose to go to college, so they obviously have some motivation (and I disagree with your assessment that people are doomed to failure if they don't know what they want to do with their lives when they're 18, but I digress).

Many primary and secondary school students don't see any reason to succeed. Is any first-grader really motivated to learn addition because he might land a high-paying job as a physicist when he's 25? Not many.

Orius said:

Paying kids to learn is giving up on teaching them real values.

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What "real values" are you referring to?

Paying them is a much cheaper and more effective way of motivating kids to learn, than many of the other things on which schools waste money.

Kandahar said:

I disagree. Once the reward is gone, they'll be intelligent high school graduates who have excellent opportunities for college and/or work, as opposed to high school dropouts.

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Who have been taught to pursue things for material reasons the entire time. Sounds rather capitalist to me.

Kandahar said:

But the difference is they chose to go to college, so they obviously have some motivation (and I disagree with your assessment that people are doomed to failure if they don't know what they want to do with their lives when they're 18, but I digress).

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Motivation, yes, but direction, no. I agree with what you say about 18 year olds, which is why I don't support people entering college until they have a pretty solid idea about what they want to do. Going directly from high school to uni is one of the worst directions, in my view.

Kandahar said:

Many primary and secondary school students don't see any reason to succeed. Is any first-grader really motivated to learn addition because he might land a high-paying job as a physicist when he's 25? Not many.

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Does any first grader really want to be in school in the first place? A kid that age just wants to play and have fun. When I was that age I didn't even think about money. I was happy being given $5 by my parents to run to the corner store and buy some candy.

Schools shouldn't be dishing out material rewards for success of students. That is the job of parents.

Kandahar said:

What "real values" are you referring to?

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Whatever values their parents wish to teach them. I would be against the school giving my kid money and circumventing my authority.

Kandahar said:

Paying them is a much cheaper and more effective way of motivating kids to learn, than many of the other things on which schools waste money.

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Sounds like it's still quite experimental, and it's a copout. It's as though they've tried everything else and they're just saying, "I'll give you a dollar if you do it?"

From the article

About two-thirds of the 59 high-poverty schools in the Sparks program -- which pays seventh-graders up to $500 and fourth-graders as much as $250 for their performance on a total of 10 assessments -- improved their scores since last year's state tests by margins above the citywide average.

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These are kids from poor families. Not well-off high-schoolers in the suburbs. Give the poor kids money to not only motivate them, but possibly give them financial opportunities they may not have had before. Now they can save for college, a car, or buy a computer. Things that I'm sure their parents could not have afforded to reward them with.

I agree we shouldn't ever adopt this as a national standard, and poor kids shouldn't be dealt with exactly the same as kids from middle class schools. The impoverished obviously have living hardships that need to be acknowledged and addressed along with their children's learning agenda. A program like this appears to address both, so I see no problem with it.

Unless they start cheating...

I'd prefer they win scholarship money vs cold hard cash. But then again I give my kids money for good grades and there are parents who can't afford to do so.

Too bad they can't reward them with legitimate parents. That's what they really need.

Kandahar said:

By rewarding students for their hard work NOW, schools provide an incentive to learn.

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While also providing the kids with the experience of receiving compensation for hard work.

I think this is a great idea if the school can realistically afford it.