If I'm asked to design a network and do so on time I'm not rewarded for my efforts. I wouldn't expect to either, after all I'm just doing my job that's what my paycheck is for. If I did so under budget and before schedule I would probably get some recognition but I certainly wouldn't EXPECT it. So now there is a notion to reward students for doing their jobs? That's like rewarding elementary school kids with a graduation ceremony. When rewards and gifts are handed out for accomplishing mimimal deeds the deed loses all meaning.

High school students can earn A's or B's in school by simply applying themselves and not cutting class - rewarding them for doing that substantially lowers the bar for everyone and demeans the students who truly accomplish something. It's like getting a reward for not wetting the bed - simply not wetting the bed is ample reward in an of itself. Anything mom gives you is icing on the cake, but it won't affect the outcome - that has to come from you.

I think the question should be: does it work?

You claim you don't expect any reward for doing your job?

What about promotions and bonuses?

I have the means and I actually do reward my kids for their school performance. If they do poorly on a test, I take it out of their allowance, and if they get over 95, they get a little bonus.

Whether it works or not, I'm not sure.

People are in fact rewarded for good grades, its just that the payment is usually deferred, and kids sometimes have a hard time understanding the long-term implications of doing well in school for their future well-being.

"People are in fact rewarded for good grades, its just that the payment is usually deferred, and kids sometimes have a hard time understanding the long-term implications of doing well in school for their future well-being."

I agree. I come from a single-parent family with three kids. My Mom told us from a very young age that there was no way there would be any $$ for college that didn't come from our own hardwork. You'd better get scholarships if you want to go to college...and getting an education is the way to get ahead. Oh, and I had to work 30 hrs a week to save for apps and tuition down payments while getting straight A's in HS. Kids can do it and the motivation can come from within. Teaching that does begin with the parents, in my opinion, not only the schools.

...And when I looked around in college at the kids that had everything handed to them, they were always the goof-offs wasting their parents' money.

I think it's more about getting recognition for getting good grades. For the star football player who cuts class and gets in fights in the cafeteria every month, the football stadium is filled with the adoring students, parents, boosters, and now sometimes broadcast on radio and TV. All he has to do is get barely passing grades. Where's that recognition for the top students?

Sure, you have a point and a very valid one.

It is hard for kids to appreciate why they are in school to begin with - but I think and (if I may) believe you would agree that the encouragement needs to come from home not the school.

The benefits of a good education are rarely apperent to the pupil, and certainly not in a social minded setting like high school. I guess I'm a proponent for tough love and it shows in my feelings on this topic. I don't think public institutions are the proper place to solve social ills, not when the tools, talents, and opportunities already exist at home. But it's tough for poor people to concentrate on the really important stuff, I know I've been there myself several times. If society wishes to correct the problems of youth, I think the parents is the proper target for social programs.

Here are the facts of the matter:

1. If more kids go to school and graduate YOU and the rest of society benefit as well as the student.

2. If students continue to refuse to value their educations then YOU and the rest of society suffer.

SO....why would you stand of a point of principal like "they shouldn't be rewarded for doing their job" if it hurts you? Not logical.

I have to say that your mother was stupid in the extreme then. Frankly, that is what turns children off: people saying that 'You are on your own' when it comes to their 'education'.

Frankly, education is NOT the way to get ahead, period and done with! I know people who went to HARVARD who cannot get good jobs. Why? Because they have no 'connections' and were not in the 'upper-crust' to begin with.

Education is WORSE than useless in this world today, because it is mainly memorization..... something that most children and most ADULTS are not good at! If they would make everything 'open-book'..... wooo, grades shooting up!

It's time to realize that life is open-book today, with the internet and numerous other things, and memorization is old school and not necessary at all.

Exactly right. Most athletes get attention at the first from adoring fans, students and other people.

Good students.... They get absolutely NONE of that, and they wonder why people don't want to be smart and good students? Add to that the harassment that comes from being a good student (which I personally went through in high school)....... and you realize that it just isn't worth it to show up other people with your intelligence, because they will make your life a living hell!

That's the main reason why I tried to keep my grades in the C area when I was in high school, KNOWINGLY. Because I would be threatened with physical harm if I (someone with strange physical attributes and seizures, now linked to Apberger's, a form of autism) would do better than the totally normal teenagers around me!

It just wasn't worth it, and still isn't worth it. That is the main reason why I had my daughter's mother keep them out of school until they were going into 9th grade, then they went to high school in the public school system. I didn't want them to learn at an early age that being smart wasn't 'cool' or 'popular'.