Should You Be Rewarded for Good Grades?

Want a new XBox? Free ice cream? A wad of cash? They could be yours—if you get an A on your next report card. In an effort to motivate students, some parents and schools have been offering rewards to teens for getting good grades. In some New York City schools, for instance, seventh-graders could earn $50 for a perfect score on certain tests.

People who support such plans say rewards can encourage students to devote more time and attention to their schoolwork. As a result, they say, kids often develop new focus and better work habits that will benefit them later in life, such as in college or their future jobs. Plus, teens who earn prizes may eventually discover that a good grade can be rewarding in itself.

Other people, however, say that rewarding students for good grades can backfire in the long run. They believe that focusing on money and prizes can cause teens to lose sight of the real purpose of school: to learn. Also, once the rewards stop, so can young people’s interest in doing the work, critics say. Some kids may even start expecting a reward for everything they do.

Should students be rewarded for good grades? Two experts weigh in.

Rewarding good grades can serve as an extra incentive for students to study longer and try harder. In offering rewards, however, it’s important for teachers, parents, and administrators to set clear goals and stress the importance of learning—not just of passing tests and earning money. Some studies show that when the cash is used to kick-start students’ motivation rather than replace it, rewards can work.

As a mother of three and a personal finance expert, I’ve seen this strategy work with my own children as well as other students. When each of my kids entered middle school, we implemented an “Academic Incentive Plan.” They’d get $20 for each A and $10 for each B. No money was awarded for a grade of C or below. That motivated them to figure out how to study better, but they still had to do the hard work to achieve good grades.

They also knew the academic allowance plan was for a set period of time. When our oldest daughter earned straight A’s in college last fall, it wasn’t for the money—the allowance had stopped. But by then, striving for knowledge and academic success had become a habit—and its own reward.

Critics say that paying kids for good grades sets them up to expect a reward for everything they do. But financial incentives are a fact of life in the working world.

When we’re hired to do a job, an employer expects us to work hard and do that job to the best of our ability. But we also expect to be paid—and to be given opportunities to earn more if we work harder, longer, and better. Why can’t the same apply to students?

—Lynnette Khalfani-Cox
Co-founder, AskTheMoneyCoach.com, and author of College Secrets for Teens

I’ve worked in hundreds of schools and classrooms all over the world in an effort to find out what helps kids succeed. My research and many other studies have shown that paying students for good grades isn’t what helps them improve.

Rewards for good grades can work in the short run—you ace the next test, say, or even the next several tests. But they don’t work in the long run. Why? Because after a while, the goal can become earning money instead of learning. But gaining knowledge should be the real goal.

Besides, what happens when the rewards end? Studies have found that once the money stopped, most kids no longer made the effort.

Success in school is more than knowing the answers to test questions. It’s about learning how to solve problems and process information, not for­getting it as soon as you get the grade—and the cash.

Another thing: Why should you get rewarded for doing something you’re supposed to do? Should you get paid to be kind? To obey the law?

Middle school is when many now-successful people first discovered what they’re passionate about. If you’re focused on getting a certain grade to earn money, you might zip past subjects and ideas because they won’t be on the test. But in doing so, you could miss something that might spark a lifelong interest—one you’d be willing to work hard at, even through failure and other difficulties. And knowing how to learn from failure and move on can be as important as getting an A on a test.

Just look at successful athletes, actors, and musicians: True skill and success came only after years of hard work and thousands of hours of practice—whether they were getting paid or not.

—Michele Borba
Educational psychologist and author of Unselfie