Remember when you had to fill out “Student” as your occupation on many a standardized form or drop down menu, knowing that this “job” provided no income?
Washington, D.C. is about to change that (image courtesy of Washington Post).
By utilizing a point system that grades on performance, attendance, and displaying manners, the city is about to shell out up to $100/month or $2 per point up to 50 points per month, some D.C. schools will be putting some money into their students pockets for their work in the classroom.
However, they’re not the first school system to use the all mighty dollar to motivate students. In Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, and Virginia, students are offered up to $500 for scoring a 3 or higher on Advanced Placement tests. In New York, students between the fourth and seventh grades can earn up to $500 for scoring well on standardized tests.
In Washington, D.C, the pilot program is targeted towards sixth through eighth graders, when D.C.’s school chancellor feels that students are at the greatest risk/benefit period in their academic careers. It’s controversial, but is it worth it to pay students to do “their jobs?”
I’m just wondering what happens once the students hit high school, losing their incomes. If money becomes the main motivator (i.e. “I’m going to nail this test on Friday so that I can buy that CD”) and you take it away after they’ve graduated from middle school, will these high school students to be actually feel as if they’re being demoted because of the lack of monetary reward for their work? Will high schools have to start paying athletes (unless they already do…) and wooing people to run student governments because these students have grown up in a money-motivated environment mandated by the city?
For some, I’m sure it will work. For others, it’s a nice break for parents who struggle to provide an allowance for their children in what would seem to be a system that would encourage students to try hard.
However, I wouldn’t want to be in the classroom when report cards are handed out or test scores because the students, especially the “at-risk” students, will start to perceive these scores as “messing with my money” instead of just being a grade.
Let’s not even get into college, when students who are used to being paid to study suddenly have to shell out $20,000 - $30,000 a year to go to an upper tier university.
However, it might be a good lesson for students to learn early. At the end of the day, the biggest nerds take home the most cash.
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