Should we bribe children in school?

Think about it. Every school get's quite a bit of money per student that attends. Now, much of this money is spent on hiring better teachers, getting better supplies, etc. All this is in the name of helping the children to learn better. But let's face it, the biggest problem our kids face isn't a bad education program, but their own disinterest. The fact is, plenty of kids just don't give a crap if they pass or not. This brings me to my point. If we actually took some of the funds given for each student and paid to them for getting better grades, I grantee they would study till their eyes fell out. I don't know about exact numbers, but how about something like $25 for an A, $10 for a B, and $5 for a C. Discuss.

A charity in did this for a inner-city school in San Francisco, it worked grades jumped up across the board. But should we be promoting the belief that school is only worth it if you give them money? School itself is a gift, not everyone gets a free education.

A charity in did this for a inner-city school in San Francisco, it worked grades jumped up across the board. But should we be promoting the belief that school is only worth it if you give them money? School itself is a gift, not everyone gets a free education.

Ace_WondersX

A: Motivate them with moneyso that when they need knowledge later in life they won't regret their years in school.

or

B: Let them keep not caring.

I'll take A any day.

Sounds like a good idea but I doubt it would be affordable.

The fact is, plenty of kids just don't give a crap if they pass or not.

Head_of_games

Not as a government-run program. I have to go with what Ace Wonder said, an education is indeed a gift.

It's the parent's job to make sure their children are educated. Not the government's.

I plan on bribing my boy to get good grades.

Well if it's either

A: Motivate them with moneyso that when they need knowledge later in life they won't regret their years in school.

or

B: Let them keep not caring.

I'll take A any day.

Head_of_games

You can pay for it, then. Keep me out of it. I'll deal with my children myself.

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]The fact is, plenty of kids just don't give a crap if they pass or not.

aransom

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]The fact is, plenty of kids just don't give a crap if they pass or not.

aransom

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]The fact is, plenty of kids just don't give a crap if they pass or not.

aransom

This is a cheaper and more efficient method, beat your kids *** for getting below a B. It works too lol.

This is a cheaper and more efficient method, beat your kids *** for getting below a B. It works too lol.

Ace_WondersX

My parents paid me for good grades. I was by no means a slacker, I was a great student. But honestly, if the parent is able to, it gives younger (9-10th grade) kids more long term incentive to do good.

You guys seem to me misunderstanding a bit. This would require no extra funds. They would just need to take some away from other areas that aren't that importent. Head_of_games

You can only pay for it for so long before it becomes unsustainable. It's a great idea, just not viable unless done privately by parents.

You guys seem to me misunderstanding a bit. This would require no extra funds. They would just need to take some away from other areas that aren't that importent. Head_of_games

You would think that better grades = better colleges = better/higher paying jobs = more money. That should be enough motivation.SaintLeonidas

[QUOTE="SaintLeonidas"]You would think that better grades = better colleges = better/higher paying jobs = more money. That should be enough motivation.MattUD1

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]You guys seem to me misunderstanding a bit. This would require no extra funds. They would just need to take some away from other areas that aren't that importent. airshocker

You can only pay for it for so long before it becomes unsustainable. It's a great idea, just not viable unless done privately by parents.

You would think that better grades = better colleges = better/higher paying jobs = more money. That should be enough motivation.SaintLeonidas

Sadly it's not for some kids.

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]You guys seem to me misunderstanding a bit. This would require no extra funds. They would just need to take some away from other areas that aren't that importent. Ace_WondersX

You would think that better grades = better colleges = better/higher paying jobs = more money. That should be enough motivation.SaintLeonidas

Yea that works for good students, but then they are fine. We're talking about the children who obviously don't see this, or don't look this far into the future.

The other thing that pisses me off about our college system is everyone goes because they think its the only way to get a good job, not because they want to learn. It ends up being a colossal waste of money and time for a lot of people in the long run (Not that everyone, including me, is like that)

I don't see your point. Honestly, you'd be surprised the amount of cash schools get per student. It would not be at all financially stressfull to relocate some of those funds towards motivating the children. Head_of_games

Okay, say in a school of 2,000 or so students, everyone who gets an A gets 25 bucks. That's 50k right there. How many report cards does a kid get? I haven't been in high-school for some time, but say they get a report card once every two months or so. Let's also say that the school year is 10 months. That's 250k for just one A that doesn't even encompass all of the subjects.

What if they get A's in every single major subject? Math, science, history and english for instance, now that's 1 mil.

That doesn't seem feasible to me when the money itself can go to better things.

Schools don't get THAT much money. If every school did this is would become unsustainable VERY fast. Teachers need to make money too, and right now IIRC they're some of the lowest paid people in the country.

Not to mention our school system (America) is extremely underfunded as it is. Class sizes keep getting bigger, most schools don't have adequate text books or technology, and a lot of campuses are in dire need of remodeling.

The thing with our education system is that it leaves little responsibility on the student. Most students see no reason to even try, everything is done for them.

When I did my exchange with a German school, you choose almost every aspect of your education. You are not babysat, and going to a high school like ours is a privilege not a forced thing. Our education system just has too many flaws to be fixed with the old "throw some money at it."

[QUOTE="Head_of_games"]I don't see your point. Honestly, you'd be surprised the amount of cash schools get per student. It would not be at all financially stressfull to relocate some of those funds towards motivating the children. airshocker

Okay, say in a school of 2,000 or so students, everyone who gets an A gets 25 bucks. That's 50k right there. How many report cards does a kid get? I haven't been in high-school for some time, but say they get a report card once every two months or so. Let's also say that the school year is 10 months. That's 250k for just one A that doesn't even encompass all of the subjects.

What if they get A's in every single major subject? Math, science, history and english for instance, now that's 1 mil.

That doesn't seem feasible to me when the money itself can go to better things.

First, I would be fine with paying them less than $25.

Second, I recall reading that schools get upwards of 20K per student.

Third, schools are alredy spending much more than that on kids. The bottom line is that we want kids to learn, and since all the stuff we're pouring cash into right now really doesn't seem to be working if the kids aren't interested, it'd be worth it to take away from anything else that isn't stressed for cash. I'm not an account, so I can't say specifically what we would take from and how much, but what I can say is that it is doable. The very nature of the idea makes it doable because there wouldn't be any extra cash given to the schools, and we can afford to take from pretty anything else if this Motovation Program works.

The thing with our education system is that it leaves little responsibility on the student. Most students see no reason to even try, everything is done for them.

When I did my exchange with a German school, you choose almost every aspect of your education. You are not babysat, and going to a high school like ours is a privilege not a forced thing. Our education system just has too many flaws to be fixed with the old "throw some money at it."

warriordoc

First, I would be fine with paying them less than $25.

Second, I recall reading that schools get upwards of 20K per student.

Third, schools are alredy spending much more than that on kids. The bottom line is that we want kids to learn, and since all the stuff we're pouring cash into right now really doesn't seem to be working if the kids aren't interested, it'd be worth it to take away from anything else that isn't stressed for cash. I'm not an account, so I can't say specifically what we would take from and how much, but what I can say is that it is doable. The very nature of the idea makes it doable because there wouldn't be any extra cash given to the schools, and we can afford to take from pretty anything else if this Motovation Program works.

Head_of_games

Whatever amount you pay them has to make them want to earn it. I wouldn't do it for anything less than $20. So if it's less, I doubt many students would be interested.

Secondly, I don't know where you've heard that, but I'm not sure it's even true or that schools get paid money by the government for students at all. You're going to have to provide some proof on that.

If you were an accountant and could tell me exactly what the cost would be and what you could take it of from without endangering other aspects of the school(teacher's pay, etc), I would be able to concur that it's doable. Unfortunately, I just proved that it isn't. And I'm unwilling to support something that would cost so much money and put us even further into debt. The government can't even pay it's debts as is. We should be looking for options that are more cost-effective and not the same old "lets throw money at it" approach.

It's the parent's responsibility to motivate their children. I'm not opposed to schools giving incentives, but not ones that couldn't possibly be sustained.

Yea, formal education is just not right for some people. If someone KNOWS they want to be, say a welder, why would they want to go through high school for nothing, just to get an apprenticeship or go to a technical school after either way? You need levels, university bound students, kids who aren't sure, and kids who would rather jumpstart a profession.

Although its very, very complicated and I know my solution would most likely not work either.

Yea, formal education is just not right for some people. If someone KNOWS they want to be, say a welder, why would they want to go through high school for nothing, just to get an apprenticeship or go to a technical school after either way? You need levels, university bound students, kids who aren't sure, and kids who would rather jumpstart a profession.

Although its very, very complicated and I know my solution would most likely not work either.

warriordoc

[QUOTE="warriordoc"]

The thing with our education system is that it leaves little responsibility on the student. Most students see no reason to even try, everything is done for them.

When I did my exchange with a German school, you choose almost every aspect of your education. You are not babysat, and going to a high school like ours is a privilege not a forced thing. Our education system just has too many flaws to be fixed with the old "throw some money at it."

Ace_WondersX

I third this