Moms Talk Q&A: Should Students Be Paid for Good Grades?

Every time my mother sees her grandchildren, she gives each one of them a crisp $20 bill as a reward for their good grades in school. Since my three children have consistently gotten excellent grades over the years and report cards come out several times a year, this has added up to a nice sum of money for each of my children. Jokingly, I've told my children that they've made out financially a lot better than I did as a child. My wife and I have generally celebrated our children’s excellent report cards with a modest family dinner at or .

In the business world, employees are often paid based on their performance. This is especially true in sales organizations. In my career as a human resources professional, I specialized in designing performance-based pay and bonus programs. Yet when it comes to motivating children to perform well at school, it seems rather crass to dangle money in exchange for good grades or high test scores. After all, shouldn't our children want to learn for the love of learning? We'd like to think that our children are motivated for reasons other than financial reward.

But I think as parents we may be sending mixed messages. Don’t most parents at some point offer a reward in exchange for a desired behavior from their children, whether it is stickers, candy, a new toy, or money that is offered? So if a child is unmotivated to do their homework and is doing poorly in school, why not try offering money as a motivator?

I think our children are also receiving mixed messages. I doubt any high school counselor would advise a student writing a college application essay to cite money as the primary reason for studying hard and getting good grades. Yet what do many colleges do? They'll offer academic scholarships based on grade point average and SAT scores. It's called a scholarship, but it's really worth tens of thousands of dollars to the student.  Isn’t that offering money for getting grades and high test scores?

So the Moms Talk question for this week is: “Should students be paid for getting good grades or high test scores?  What rewards are effective in motivating students? How can parents motivate their kids without sending the wrong message?”  I invite both parents and students to respond.