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You can put me squarely into the category of “overachieving Asian”, thanks to my parents' policy of paying me a dollar for every perfect “100” I scored on a test. Anything less and I would get nothing. Pay for grades? Does that actually work? In my case it seemed to.
It may sound a bit harsh that my parents would not give me money for a test score of 99. But they simply had the expectation that I should excel since I was already a straight A student. Expectations for a weaker student would have been different (I assume!). Given that there were often multiple tests per week in various subjects, I actually did quite well for myself, as a bonus to my allowance. Having to always strive for a perfect 100, however, only fueled my perfectionist nature. There probably is a better way to pay for grades without promoting perfectionism!
But will this approach work in this touchy-feely age of promoting self-esteem to the extent of narcissism? I believe it will. Nowadays, kids are getting accolades and awards just for showing up, whether it be a sports team or a scavenger hunt. Everyone is a winner all of the time! There’s no incentive to rise above the crowd. True self-esteem comes from actual accomplishments, where constantly patting children on the back just causes a sense of entitlement.
Now that our kids are in school, we need to determine if and when we institute a pay for grades system. I believe my parents started when they noticed my test scores faltering a bit. Once they instituted the new pay scheme, I instantly fell back in line. In fact, I remember once in college, where it is nearly impossible to get a perfect score on a test (especially at MIT), I achieved a perfect test score and they offered to pay me for it. I laughed because by that point, getting a good grade was accomplishment enough.
So far my son is excelling in school and has no trouble achieving good grades. He beats himself up when he doesn’t get a perfect score, so there’s no need for us to step in. His internal sense of achievement and competition takes care of it. If he does start to show signs of apathy or underachievement, paying for grades may be instituted.
For some kids, it is hard to understand the point of having good grades. There’s no immediate reward or benefit for it. The benefits come only 10 or 20 years later. In fact, having good grades lands you in the nerd category and can be a de-motivator. So having an immediate reward is beneficial for motivating kids to do well in school. Sure, they may not be doing it for the right reasons, but a reward system is still better than a punishment system.
Plus, paying for grades imitates real life. In corporate America, mediocre performance gets mediocre raises and no advancement opportunities. And if your company is actually giving raises this year, good reviews get better raises. The geeks shall inherit the earth!
Contributing editor Angela blogs about her nerdy kids at mommy bytes.
