paying kids to excel

880 Words2 Pages

In today’s society, every child in the United States has to attend school from preschool to the end of high school. A total of 13 years, or till s/he reaches 18 years old and decides to drop out. School exist to help students realize their full potential, to equip students with the skills they will need to achieve success and contribute to society, or to foster the development of independence, critical thinking, and strong ethical values. We would expect every student to be excited about going to school every day and doing their best, but there are others who are not as excited.. There are many students in the United States that take advantage of the free public education system that is offered, and become successful from the education they’ve received. But not all students take advantage of the education system and don’t do the work that they are supposed to, and do bad in standardized test. In the article by Jennifer Medina named “Next Question: can students be paid to excel?” it states that “School districts nationwide have seized on the idea that a key to improving schools is to pay for performances, whether through bonuses for teachers and principals, or rewards like cash prizes for students.” Many people believe that this will help improve students’ performance while the time the cash reward program is offered. But many other people including me, believe that this is not a good idea for the students overall. Los Angeles middle schools should not offer cash rewards to students to improve their academic motivation and performance because they will be thinking about the money rather than their own motivation to become educated and successful in life.
As a student their job is to come to school every day and complete the work ...

... middle of paper ...

...zes will ultimately lift achievement.” From this we can see that children should be inspired to learn own their own. It’s like saying you feel better when you work hard and earn what you worked for instead of having it handed to you.
As you can see, some schools have tried to pay students to excel, but it is not working. Students should understand that there is more than money in this world, but learning from your own motivation is better than having money offered to you to do well in school and standardized tests. Not only that but they should be thinking about their future and were they would see themselves in 20 years. Los Angeles middle schools should not offer cash rewards to students to improve their academic motivation and performance because they will be thinking about the money rather than their own motivation to become educated and successful in life.

Open Document