Should Paying Students Be Paid To Do Better In School?

There is little to no improvement in test scores, or grades when students get paid to improve. People have been getting paid for grades for many years but, recently more and more parents have rewarded their children for achieving good grades. The concept of rewarding a student for grades has been around for a long time but, should the school start paying students to do better in school? Students should not be paid to do better on tests and in school. Paying a student for a good grade is a waste of money, and can cause negative psychological effects on younger children. Students should not be paid with money from the school. In studies, it has been shown that there are no real benefits or improvements to students grades or test scores.
Younger students who are praised for getting good grades can feel pressured to live up to their expectations. This hinders that student's ability to learn not making it easier for them to learn. If they feel pressured to live up to high expectations all they will think about is how much trouble they will be in if they don't reach their parents standards. If this is happening often we could start to see a drop in a child's health, grades, and overall wellbeing. In the article “Stop the Pay, Stop the Play,” they talk about the negative effects of praise and how students view being praised. "Students who receive praise feel pressure to live up to that praise, creating a state Kohn called “praise-induced paralysis” (Gardiner 39-42). If praising a child causes them to feel pressured we need to be more careful about who we praise and who we don’t. Rewards, like praise can be received and wanted by different people. One section of people can see a reward and something of high honor and another group of people can see it as just another piece of paper. During a recent Vanderbilt University study they conducted an experiment that involved rewarding some students with money, some with certificates, and some with nothing. They found that “the certificate was a significantly better motivator than the monetary reward, the research found. Female students were significantly more
School is a place to learn and prepare to go to college not make money. In an experiment that was performed by the Bloomberg Association. A group of people were placed on a program,"The program paid poor families for basic behaviors such as going to the doctor, attending school, and doing well on tests. While most of the incentives didn't change behavior, results from an updated report to be released Wednesday show there might have been some benefits”(Fleisher A.19). While the initial experiment showed some promising results, they soon found that the effects of the experiment soon were gone. "The full study showed little effect on doctor's visits, employment, and elementary and middle-schoolers' test scores or attendance. Some of the encouraging initial results diminished over time. Families had more money in the bank, but that was attributed to the program's cash payments"(Fleisher A.19). Again an attempt was made to change the behaviors of people but have failed. An app and program has recently been created called “Kudzoo Cash” and it involves students scanning their report cards and getting virtual rewards that can be cashed in for real life prizes. The program may raise many questions in the future, "Students 13 years and older use their smartphone camera to scan their report cards into the Kudzoo app, which turns grade and attendance information