Should Kids Be Bribed to Do Well in School?

[DanaC]

Well, it does kind of seem strange that we, as adults, expect to be rewarded for our efforts, but we expect kids to just do it for love of doing it.

They grow up in a world where people are financially compensated for their time and efforts, but their own efforts are expected to be given freely.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by DanaC

They grow up in a world where people are financially compensated for their time and efforts, but their own efforts are expected to be given freely.

Room & Board are not free. Nor are the vacations, movies and most other whims parents pay for today. Kids today don't see that as much as I think those of past generations did. They all but expect mommy & daddy to pay for things.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Well, it does kind of seem strange that we, as adults, expect to be rewarded for our efforts, but we expect kids to just do it for love of doing it.

They grow up in a world where people are financially compensated for their time and efforts, but their own efforts are expected to be given freely.

Knowing what I know about you...don't you love learning for the sake of learning? I was never compensated for my efforts as a kid, but there was a fair exchange of "if you did what you were supposed to do, yeah, I guess we can swing some money for you to go to the movies."

My mom did teach me to love learning. We actually talked about that today, my mom and older brother and I. She said "aren't you glad I wanted you to THINK?" My brother and I agreed that a free exchange of thought and ideas is learning, and its own reward.

They didn't have to bribe me to do well. I was happy with the results, and bolstered by the look of pride on my parents' faces when I succeeded.

Now, the looks on their faces when I fucked up? That's another thread!

edit: my older brother is quite the conservative, and, well, you know me.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Shawnee123

Knowing what I know about you...don't you love learning for the sake of learning? I was never compensated for my efforts as a kid, but there was a fair exchange of "if you did what you were supposed to do, yeah, I guess we can swing some money for you to go to the movies."
.

I love learning for the sake of it, and I would not have been particularly motivated by financial reward as a kid ... I'm barely motivated by it as an adult :P

I was just pointing out the cultural trappings which surround our youngsters. We live in an intensely money oriented society. We expect children to grow up to appreciate that fact; it's what they will be expected to live by when they grow up.

Money as reward was never a part of my childhood. Pocket money was a factor; but it wasn't tagged to housework or schoolwork or anything like that. It was just something that came around every Friday.

They may well learn for the love of it ...but if they don't, then they're still stuck in the system learning: they don't get a choice in the matter. Some kids aren't motivated by a desire to learn. Or, rather aren't sufficiently motivated. Of course, it helps if stuff comes naturally. It helps if you're good at learning and schoolwork. Not everybody is. We make an equation in life between work and reward; but we expect children to accept that the reward is intrinsic and get on with it. having surrounded them with that message, why not take advantage of the fact that some children have learned rather earlier that work is work and not play ? Once they've reached that conclusion it is very difficult to unlearn it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I love learning for the sake of it, and I would not have been particularly motivated by financial reward as a kid ... I'm barely motivated by it as an adult :P
~snip~
Money as reward was never a part of my childhood. Pocket money was a factor; but it wasn't tagged to housework or schoolwork or anything like that. It was just something that came around every Friday.

I would posit you loved learning, not for the sake of it, but for the reward... the stimulation of your imagination and usefulness of the knowledge.
Whereas the money came without effort, every Friday.
If you had to earn the money, you might see the reward of pursuing it, but even now it comes as a result of pursuing what you want, and not it. Most people in the world don't have that option, and need the pursuit of money, or some equivalent, to survive. So it's not necessarily a bad thing to teach the children... in moderation, of course.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I would posit you loved learning, not for the sake of it, but for the reward... the stimulation of your imagination and usefulness of the knowledge.
Whereas the money came without effort, every Friday.
If you had to earn the money, you might see the reward of pursuing it, but even now it comes as a result of pursuing what you want, and not it. Most people in the world don't have that option, and need the pursuit of money, or some equivalent, to survive. So it's not necessarily a bad thing to teach the children... in moderation, of course.

That was similar to my original point. The adult world works on a model in which work=wages. Kids may well see a dissonance between that and the expectations put on them by adults.

I realise that actually, kids get all sorts from their parents and that it costs those parents tens of thousands of pounds/dollars to raise them; however, they are not usually a part of that equation. It isn't a negotiation like it is in the adult world. They have no choice but to go through education, and they are expected to throw themselves at it, regardless of whether they actually enjoy it or not; regardless of whether they are in fact willing; and regardless of whether or not they consider it 'work'. They are expected, for the most part, to exert their energies on tasks set them by an adult, for no reward other than which is intrinsic: love of learning/satisfaction/fun etc.

We then expect them to leave that situation and move into the adult world in which few work for free, and work is primarily a negotiated relationship. For some kids (I was one of these) that move is uncomfortable and a world in which work = reward is an alien concept. For others, being held in a situation where their work is expected and demanded but not compensated, may seem unfair and unreasonable when they can see through the window into an adult world, where work is negotiated and compensated.

Those kids who feel the dissonance when they are children may well benefit from being able to engage in an early form of work and reward negotiation.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Hmmm

[xoxoxoBruce]

After examining statistics from 27 nations, a group of researchers found the presence of book-lined shelves in the home — and the intellectual environment those volumes reflect — gives children an enormous advantage in school.

“Home library size has a very substantial effect on educational attainment, even adjusting for parents’ education, father’s occupational status and other family background characteristics,” reports the study, recently published in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. “Growing up in a home with 500 books would propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average, than would growing up in a similar home with few or no books.

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