A few schools across the United States are doling out cash and prizes to their students for doing well. Proponents call it motivation. Critics call it bribery.
About 5,500 kids in New York have the opportunity to earn money for snagging good marks—as much as $250 if the kids are in fourth grade and a whopping $500 in seventh grade. Students at Washington D.C.’s charter KEY Academy get cash, too—much of which they spend at the school’s store. It’s now one of the District’s top-scoring schools.
“I think a lot of that is tied back to our incentives program because it reinforces to the students that our expectations of time on task are serious and that you get rewarded for them,” says KEY Principal Sarah Hayes.
Critics say incentives like this might boost test scores, but only for a short time. Worse, they say, if the incentive is removed, kids become less motivated than ever. (
Time)