Should Students Get Paid For Good Grades?

“According to the most recent Phi Delta Kappa poll, only one out of four Americans say students should be paid for their grades” (Flannery). As Alfie Kohn said, the bigger the reward, the bigger the damage done (Flannery). Instead of using a physical reward such as money, there should be encouragement given when a student is working hard no matter the outcome. Money cannot buy children's feelings towards themselves and what they can accomplish. While some students may argue that being paid for good grades is beneficial, financial compensation for high marks on a report card does not build good character traits and can even be detrimental to kids for years to come. Most people think paying their kids for good grades is favorable to them, but it is the exact opposite. Paying children for good grades does not help their creativity at all (Flannery). They have the mindset to do their work good enough to get paid, which is a bad mindset for any future endeavors. Also, getting paid causes a lack of intrinsic motivation (Great Schools). They are not driven to excel in order to learn more, but to perform well enough to receive a reward. Good grades in school should not really be a true achievement, but should be more of an expectation. In addition, this deters performance in the long run (Flannery). Students will eventually …show more content…
Most people believe it is their child's job so they deserve to be paid for it, but school is required. A job in the future is a choice, not a requirement. Children should not be paid for something that all kids are expected to do. Other people think that the kick-start motivation of cash is actually useful. Yes, it does have that immediate inspiration, but if it does not stay and is not internal, there is no point to it. There are many people who believe that cash incentives are good, but teaching students to be motivated to highly perform long term is even better (Great