If you think that only parents can promise their children new mobile phones, brand new cars and paradisiacal vacations to make them study their lessons well, you better think again.
Schools are now also considering bribery as a form of motivation for students to improve their grades. Some of the schools that are participating in such experimental program using pay-based incentives to motivate students to study include Atlanta schools - Bear Creek Middle School and Creekside High School and Baltimore City's Maryland High School.
Under the plan, students who have failed at least one exam will be paid $25 if they increase their score by 5 percent over their previous score. They will receive an additional $35 if their score increases another 15 percent on the second test, and an extra $50 bonus can be earned by raising their score another 20 percent on the third benchmark exam.
This cash incentives program used to motivate students to study is gaining more popularity, according to Robert Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing. This educational motivation plan is highly controversial and has gained negative reviews because of the following reasons:
- Parents have been using this method of making their kids study well, but was it really effective? (I remember my parent did this to
my younger brother who's obsessed with brand new cars. But it didn't work.)
- Bribing them to learn can distort the purpose of education making students only want to memorize information just for the money
- Offering money to motivate students can only boost short-term performance
It's interesting that education officials find this type of program more useful than making instructors improve their teaching strategies. Are the decision-makers of the educational system that desperate? Have these people watched Michelle Pfeiffer's Dangerous Minds and The Girl Next Door (interesting sex ed video)? These movies have shown some ways to motivate students. What about more interesting books? What about the use of more engaging technology- like lectures on iPhones? Ok, not really about the iPhone.
clipart from Microsoft Office
Several things caught my eye. One of them was this: students who have failed at least one exam will be paid $25...
What about the students who have been working hard and doing well all along? This actually seems to reward poor performance (and a 5% increase is not much).
I can see how this might transfer to a work environment. (Joking) Employees who received sub-par performance reviews last review period will receive a raise if they manage to perform marginally well.
As you can see, it would be a recipe for failure in a business...
Posted by: Laura Spencer | March 22, 2008 12:03 PM | Permalink to Comment