Denny Strecker's Blog

Money for Grades…Are You Nuts?

I was listening to the radio this morning and the conversation turned to the fact that 18% of Americans believe that children should be paid if they earn good grades.

This idea is wrong for so many basic reasons that I wonder who the people are that believe this is a good idea.

First, where is this money going to come from? Children are not receiving the basic supplies that they need for school, so who is going to donate money for this idea?

Second, who is going to handle the funds and make sure that each child gets paid the correct amount in a timely manner. Looking at the city of Detroit’s track record with accounting, and even the state of Michigan’s budget deficit, I sure wouldn’t trust them to manage it well.

Third, the wrong message would be sent to the children. Teaching children to WANT to learn is the key to long term success. If you introduce payment for grades, you are trying to persuade them to earn the grade instead of instrinsically wanting the grade.

Finally, what if one school decides to pay more than another for a particular grade? Now schools are in competition with one another to see who can "recruit" the best students based on how much they pay for grades. What a catastrophe that would become in the long run.

Now, you may look at the beginning of this post and say,

"18%. What’s the big deal? That is a small number."

18% is just about 1 out of every 5 people. The fact that that number is so high scares me to death. 1 out of every 5 people believes that children should be paid to earn good grades.

Well, if they believe that, what else are they teaching their children?

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think about this topic.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 7:13 pm and is filed under Self-Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.