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Should I pay my kids for good grades?
With report cards coming out, many parents wonder about whether they should pay their kids for good grades or not.
Paying kids for grades will eventually turn parents’ best intentions from reward into bribery because it changes the purpose for learning. Which is better: to learn for the love of learning OR to learn because we are going to be paid for it?
Learning is a relationship between the student, the teacher and the subject. Paying kids for grades changes the motivational nature of learning. When we pau kids for grades it now becomes a relationship between the student, the subject and the parents’ ideas about what the kid’s grades should be.
Bottom line: The love of learning can’t be bought.
Posted: November 17, 2009
Posted By: Kristan Leatherman, M.S.
Posted By: Kristan Leatherman, M.S.
While I understand the message you're trying to get across, I think it's a two way street. Sometimes people get lazy. And without the right motivation/reward structure setup, it can be hard for children to discover new interests.
Clearly the goal isn't to pay them off forever, but money could help. Maybe the answer isn't money, but a dinner out to their favorite restaurant, or something else the child does enjoy.
Many of our teachers are overtaxed and/or under motivated themselves. What's the typical proposed solution (and number one complaint by teachers) - more money. If our teachers aren't motivated by "love" - how can we expect our children to be when they're completely new to the topics at hand or their learning style differs greatly from the teaching style.
The real bottom line: The love of learning cannot be realized without parental involvement, a good learning environment, and positive reinforcement/rewards.