Thought provoking

One of the 6 magazines we subscribe to is Time magazine. Recently they had an article about a a recent research study implementing a radical idea to improve scholastic performance in children.

The idea...money!

Monetarily reward kids for their scholastic performance to improve standardized test scores. It was done in four different areas, under four different models.

The first model was just to straight up give the kids $2 for every book they read.
The second model was to pay them for their grades-- a certain amount for A's for B's and so on.
The third model was to pay them for a variety of factors-- class attendance, behavior, grades, participation, etc.
The fourth model was to pay them if they achieved 87% or higher on tests administered throughout the year.

Under the second and fourth model, although grades improved as did class attendance, standardized test scores did not budge.
Under the third model, test scores did improve moderately at the end of the year.
But the first model was a huge success and the improvement in the students reading comprehension was the equivalent of 5 extra months of school.

The opponents say that children should want to learn for the love of learning and using the wrong motivation will decrease the intrinsic value of education for them.
I thought the author of the study had a very good insight when he pointed out that if we want kids to love learning for the sake of learning (which, according to him, obviously wasn't working) than we are holding them to a higher standard than we are holding ourselves....because adults work for money and are motivated by money.

For the first time, I began to consider the unthinkable....what if our kids didn't like school??!!
What if learning didn't come naturally to them or if they struggled with academics

Richard dismissed the thought as completely preposterous-- they were OUR kids-- born to be nerds just like us!

But it could happen...and if it does, how will I deal with it and help them through it. Will I be willing to pay them for their academic performance?

Food for thought.