School’s out and so are report cards. Should kids get paid for good grades? Nick Albers of Granby Jr./Sr. High School shares his view.
Nick AlbersKids would focus more in school if they knew money was involved. It’s simple: good grades equal money; bad grades equal no money. If kids don’t pay attention, then they don’t get paid. To keep the grades up, kids would also have to do all their homework. The more homework they do, the better they do on a test or quiz because homework is basically practice of the knowledge students learn in school.
Also, the more time spent on that homework will result in less time on video games or staring at a computer screen like a zombie.
The reward of money will allow the kid to buy what he or she wants to buy.
It’s a different feeling when someone earns money for something good that they did rather than having money given for no reason. The reward will also serve as a saving fund for college. College is expensive. However, if students have a fund for college for every good grade they get, it will definitely add up.
The reward may also cause the student to have better behavior. A student not doing his or her work could mean a trip to the principal’s office, resulting in a downhill roll of bad effects. However, if the student is doing his or her work to get a good grade on a report card and get paid for it, well, that’s a snowball effect of good deeds.
Kids being paid for good grades could affect their behavior at home. Say the student avoids homework and goes outside to play. Later he eats dinner and feels stressed for not doing his homework. He may get mad easily or misbehave.
He gets two homework grades taken off his record. The student may then get the “disappointed” lecture from the teacher and not get the good grade that he wanted. If he was more focused in school, then the homework would get done. He would be in a better mood at home and get that good grade on his report card.
What parent wouldn’t want a better behaving student? All they have to do is pay them!
When report cards come out, kids should get paid for their good grades. Kids need an incentive to do better.
Parents don’t want to pay their kids because they probably think it would be too expensive. Yet, the students would have better behavior, get better grades and have a better chance of getting into a good college.
Students will also learn that once they do work, they will get paid. This is a life lesson for a job.
This essay was written as a class assignment for teacher Joan Vohl Hamilton.