Children Getting Paid For Grades | Teen Ink

Children Getting Paid For Grades

January 8, 2016
By Anonumus BRONZE, Indyanapolis, Indiana
Anonumus BRONZE, Indyanapolis, Indiana
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

The idea of paying for good grades has migrated from the family room to the schoolhouse, Schools have started to bribe their students with money or other valuables for  keeping good grades.The problem is they are not able to create logical ways to use the money , states have programs to support this idea of paying their younger generation to keep their grades to 3.5 GPA and up(Staff) Some of the programs are New York’s City's Spark, Washington DC’s Capital Glans, and The Paper Project in Chicago they need motivation not a bribe there are also long term issues with doing this because they expect a reward whenever they do good.

 

The programs that help with the funding to schools to pay their students are all thinking well our schools don’t have the A+ school grade that they want so they pay the students to have the grades to put the schools up there in school rating. In New York City’s Spark program allows a fourth-grader to get paid up to $250 year, while a Seventh-Grader can earn up to $500(Staff) At this point the money given to the students can give them $1,000 that can be used for school supplies for High School. In Washington DC’s Capital Glans program gives middle school students cash rewards for their best performance in different areas they are Attendance, Behavior, and three academic measurements, such as completing homework, earning high grades (Staff.) This is the same concept but is more organized but still a bribe to the children. The paper project in Chicago encourages ninth and tenth grade students in 25 high schools to earn better grades and pass their classes. These grades are important for future teachers to look at where you are but you are not doing what you do your being bribed to do what they want you to do. So why do they need this motivation to do good?


Dose motivated by money take the learning and self lifting out of Education.Specific activities exhibited a decrease in motivation to perform those chosen activities. The motivation is making it so that their attention is not focused on what they can do but what they can get out of it. By doling out rewards for doing homework and good grades, parents take the focus away from skills like hard work, perseverance, and planning  not to mention the love to learn or read. The learning aspect is disappearing going away and isn't to learn or make time to do the things for school but to do them for money and to just do it. For parents who want their student to make a the When Then after school routine and that school related things like homework or typing an essay before they go play with friends or play video games. This is not to make sure that your child has good grades but to do what is necessary for their education. Think about the long term problems that paying your child for good grades can effect them with.


Just because it is happening to the older children (4th - 7th) doesn't mean that the younger generation won't be affected either. They will be only looking forward to get to the point where they get money. Alfie Kohn, Author of Punished by Rewards “The bigger the reward the more damage done” (“Cash for Grades?”) This statement says that when the child receives a reward it makes them more used to receiving that kind of treatment, so that makes them expect having a reward for doing good with that chosen activity. “What they really need is for people to value the activity of learning.” (Gallegos) With paying the children it doesn't help because there is no distinct motivation to do the work that they are required to complete each night. “Simply paying kids for good grades or test scores doesn't actually give them any more skills, the system needs to be more complicated - and more specific to the needs of children - to be effective.” The children need to be paid in small amounts in different areas that they may need help with no overall because then they are not improving they are saying the same in what they are doing. In conclusion paying the younger children to do good in their subjects is unnecessary.


Paying children to become better students, this topic is the stupidest thing I have ever heard students need motivation not a bribe.


Objection- Well there is at least something to aim for and get them to do good
Rebuttal- They need something to motivate them not a bribe
Objection-”A bribe, she points out, comes with negative consequences. A reward, on the other hand, is a nice bonus when you've reached a goal that has merits of its own ” (Gallegos)
Rebuttal-The reward is what has stepped over the boundaries and crossed the line giving them the money is what causes the issue some will get more than others then brag and another problem comes out of a “solution”
Objection- They need something to keep them going and to have them become successful
Rebuttal- "It's a bad bargain," he says. "They must value education. Giving them bribes is corrupting that value." (Gallegos) The children need small rewards and no bribes to have them do what other people want them to do.
The children that we are giving the money to don’t have logical decisions made on what they are doing with the money,some ideas include College savings, helping others who are less fortunate and are having troubles.In conclusion the people that think that this type of treatment in schools is unnecessary and dose not work. The world is based around money and how famous you are not on what others do to impact the lives of the less fortunate. In this i hope that you came out of this with a different idea on what the education system is slowly becoming about money not on how the children do but on how they show the school.
 



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