Should workers receive compensation for their work product? School has been described as a students “job”. This being the case, shouldn’t educators be compensating students for commendable work? Harvard professor of economics and developer of several cash incentive programs, or schemes depending on your view, Roland G. Fryer states, “Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life.” What constitutes a positive and beneficial student incentive has become a topic of controversy and debate.
Considering the dilemma from the business approach, with school representing students’ jobs, we must ask ourselves how many employees would continue at their current position, let alone produce quality work, without compensation? No paycheck; No problem- Not likely! Yet every day students are expected to focus, absorb knowledge and implement it to prove competency, all for the satisfaction of a job well done. Consider, too, that these students are children and adolescents; underdeveloped both physically and psychologically. Are these expectations realistic and attainable? Plus, consider where these students will head once they leave the halls of academia- the business world. Wouldn’t monetary incentives help to prepare them for life in the “real world”?
I know a professor who staunchly denounces extrinsic incentives in lieu of the intrinsic value of self-accomplishment. Keeping candy out of the classroom is a crusade he passionately advocates. Many educators and parents who feel that payment for grades diminishes the education process and devalues students’ motive to learn echo his beliefs. Alex Standish, assistant professor at Western Connecticut State University states, “…once we start paying students to learn, we implicitly communicate the idea that learning, in and of itself, is not of sufficient worth. ” These individuals view such practices as pollution of the educational spirit. They equate the cash incentives to bribery- an illicit and illegal act; and believe that the funds would be better spend on mentoring or tutoring programs, enhancing school curriculum and technology or hiring highly qualified teachers. All of these tools are commendable considerations geared toward empowering education.
But, is it realistic to expect all students, especially the very young or those in low socioeconomic situations to achieve this goal? Is praise in the classroom enough to inspire students with a drive to excel academically? What about the students who receive little or no outside support in their academic endeavors, is a smile and a “great job” going to produce the desired response?
Some schools apparently don’t think so and have accepted the offer to participate in research using a cash for courses agenda, often referred to as conditional cash transfers, which rewards their students with payment based on their grades and possibly even their attendance and behavior. “Green for Grades” and Opportunity NYC: Spark are experimental, privately funded, programs implemented in Chicago and New York City respectively to test the effectiveness of this approach. Similar programs in Washington, DC, Georgia, and Massachusetts have fueled the controversy tied to the topic. Even the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have contributed funding for cash for grades programs targeting college level student in California and several other states. Payments, project developers proclaim, compare to scholarship offerings, which typically have minimum grades requirements.
The “Green for Grades” program provides a payout for student grades in math, science, social studies, English, and physical education. Each “A” results in a $50 payment, a “B” earns the student $35 and a “C” pays $20 for high school freshmen and sophomores enrolled in the study. With the two year term assigned to the project, an all “A” student could walk away with a significant bankroll. But, will this incentive result in improved education? Will the students walk from graduation with knowledge and enthusiasm or will the cash incentives corrupt their outlook and expectations? The verdict is still out.
In a perfect world, I would probably have to side with my professor in his quest to use intrinsic motivators to instill a passion for learning in students. Unfortunately, we live in an imperfect world. A world that in some societies carries a stigma that labels the quest for education and good grades as nonessential. In that imperfect world, perhaps we need to embrace some approaches that are less than ideal to lure students into a pursuit of academics, with the ultimate goal aimed to transfer those extrinsic rewards into an internal drive to learn when and where it’s possible. If students remain in school, even for extrinsic reward, won’t they be better off than had they dropped out? Surely, these students will absorb more knowledge, even if the motivation is not exactly what educators would ultimately desire, than they would had they given up on the educational process and walked away. Will this type of program simply stimulate greed and develop a society of workers demanding more and more tangible incentives to produce and create? Or will such practices ultimately generate a rise in caliber and number of graduates from our schools? The controversy and debate are sure to continue while we wait for more conclusive data. Where do you stand?
Works Cited
Barrett, Kate. "Some D.C. Students to Be Paid for A's." 28 August 2008. abc News. 28 January 2010
Calefati, Jessica. "Giving Students Cash for Grades." 28 November 2008. US News and World Report. 28 January 2010
Guernesey, Lisa. "Rewards for Students Under a Microscope ." March 2009. The New York Times. January 2010
Holland, Gale. "Gates fund to study 'cash for grades' ." 8 December 2008. Los Angeles Times. 28 January 2010
Johnson, Jessica A. "Cash-for-grades could help some schools." 29 August 2009. Dispatch Politics: A Division of the Columbus Dispatch. 28 January 2010
Medina, Jennifer. "Next Question: Can Students Be Paid to Excel?" 5 March 2008. New York Times. 28 January 2010
Standish, Alex. " America’s ‘cash for grades’ scandal." 20 May 2009. spiked. 28 January 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment