Comments on: WWYD: Paying Children for Good Grades

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:53:02 +0000

Being 15 and currently attending a school where my parents 'bribe' me for good grades ( I get the best marks possible, not bragging, merely stating facts.), I feel the ideals behind teaching children that bribes are the only reason to acquire beneficial marks are slightly wrong. Teaching your kids ahead and during the time what those grades really mean, how far the marks will take them, and getting them to realize what an impact they have is step one of your journey. Bribes are fine, if my parents turned around and stated they were never going to pay me for grades again and could care less about my education, it will do no more than urge me to try harder. I always consider the fact that while I am paid, I myself realize the importance the grades hold within themselves. Teaching that to your kids is more important than simply throwing them out the door with a few bucks for getting an A on that last paper they brought home.

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By: Fabulous Financials v2.0 » Fab Picks of the Blogosphere: Week 1

Fabulous Financials v2.0 » Fab Picks of the Blogosphere: Week 1 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:36:28 +0000

[...] asks what would you do: paying children for good grades? There’s a thin line but even adults are motivated with pay for performance [...]

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By: Carnivals for Tax Week (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog)

Carnivals for Tax Week (Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 19:55:03 +0000

[...] Smart Money Life was the place for the 7th Carnival of Ethics, Values and Personal Finance. The article that caught my eye was from Nina of Queer Cents who asked if you would pay your children for good grades?. My answer is no, but check this post nevertheless. [...]

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By: Nina

Nina — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:13:01 +0000

In this week’s Carnival of Ethics, Values & Personal Finance:
http://www.moneysmartlife.com/carnival-of-ethics-values-personal-finance-7

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By: Kristina

Kristina — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 19:38:37 +0000

Parents should be teaching their children that loving learning is important, not loving money and GPAs. Sit down and read to kids, take them to science museums, and help them with homework. If you honestly think that learning is important, you can teach your child that it is, too. I think it's a terrible idea to bribe kids for grades. I've known students with 4.0's. They drop classes that are fascinating but might be too difficult to ace, work insanely hard on things that don't matter to them, and blow off friends because they "need to study." On Saturday night. During spring break. I've always gotten good grades because I like reading, learning new things, and throwing myself into projects. However, I don't get top grades because I would rather work on something I love than put in the extra 10-20 hours/week of drudgery a 4.0 would take. Think a 4.0 is necessary to get into top schools? Every grad school I applied to (Princeton, MIT, UC Berkeley, and Columbia) didn't.

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By: prlinkbiz

prlinkbiz — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:26:16 +0000

I completely agree with the quote at the start of the post: "Success is the child of drudgery and perseverance. It cannot be coaxed or bribed; pay the price and it is yours." -- Orison Swett Marden I have found that the most successful people I know were not given allowances or rewarded for things like grades. They learned ealy f they wanted something, they had to motivate themselves to make it happen To the contrary, I believe rewards work against and not for us. I'm reading Mindset by Carol Dweck, and she has some very interesting studies and things to say about this topic!

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By: The Simple Dollar » The Simple Dollar Morning Roundup: Forty Bars Of Soap Edition

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 13:31:05 +0000

[...] What Would You Do: Paying Children For Good Grades This is the best plan I’ve ever heard of: if the child gets a 3.6 GPA or above for the quarter, (s)he earns a raise in allowance. But then the threshold for earning a raise next quarter goes up to a 3.7 GPA. I should write up my grand unified allowance theory sometime… (@ queercents) [...]

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By: no money

no money — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:01:02 +0000

Not only did we not get money from my parents, they made it extremely clear that it did not matter at all to them what letter grade was on the report card when we brought it home... the only thing that mattered was that we tried our best. My mom is a teacher, and my and her friends were always amazed/disturbed at her attitude about it. But the fact is, I always got As without having to do that much work... I am one of those annoying people who can remember everything and does very well in school without much effort. I think my parents probably realized that when I learned to read at 3 and decided to spend their bribe money on beers for them after having to answer all my "but why?" questions - ha! My sister on the other hand was not as "naturally" smart, so Bs were her thing. Would it be fair for me to get more money, just because I test well and have a good memory for facts, when my sister actually "worked" harder in her studies? No. I think our success was related to our parents being very involved with our schools, as well as encouraging reading from a very young age.

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By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:16:25 +0000

I do give Kate (my 14-year-old) money for good grades, because it's something my Mom started when she was raising her. I don't like it, and I really don't agree with it. (I don't even think it's very motivating, I think Kate would be a very good student, paid or not.) But I'm not sure how I can stop the tradition without it feeling like a punishment? And just for the record, Kate gets money for chores each week, too, and no chores = no money. That's something I think is actually motivating for her, whereas grades are too infrequent to really make a financial difference to her.

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By: DivaJean

DivaJean — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:24:55 +0000

I totally agree with Mapgirl. Grades are only one measure of a child's "success." In our house, my eldest would probably be extremely motivated by the money- she wants all she can get to feed her American Girl doll habit. However, my middle child has learning disabilities. Success for him might be a "c" average- challenges for him are behaviors. We feel that spending the time with our kids on their projects and interests is where the payoff is. My eldest (in 2nd grade) had an assignment in March for Women's History Month to write a report. She chose Amelia Earhart and she read several books to me about her- a little each night- with me helping on tough words. We built a pretend airplane for her to play in- like Amelia did on her grandparents roof when she was a girl. We talked about the mystery of Amelia and how even today, people are working on theories of her disappearance. She got an A on the report- and was able to tell the class about many aspects of Amelia's life beyond the assignment. Meanwhile, my 4 yr old middle child has his challenges. We are working closely with him on writing his letters and numbers and made him a special notebook with each letter on pages for him to copy. He is an artistic guy and uses his markers to make many different colored letters on each page- his creative way to get thru the banality of learning how to write his letters and numbers. When a page is completed, believe me- it is a beautiful rainbow work of art to behold. These specific interventions will be way more valuable to them in the long haul than a few greenbacks floated their way!

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