Paying students in low-income school districts for high academic performance benefits students by motivating them to work harder and by giving them a taste of the professional world.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 15.8 percent of students in the lowest family income quartile drop out of high school, more the six times the percentage for students in the highest quartile. These impoverished students likely receive less educational support at home and often don’t expect to attend college, which contributes to a general lack of motivation.

Monetary rewards for success would give these students an incentive to stay in school and maintain good grades. As a result, students would be more likely to graduate and go on to higher education, while the schools would simultaneously see an improvement in their reputations.

Opponents may argue that monetary rewards would motivate students for immoral reasons. However, the purpose of education is to prepare students for the real world, and in the real world, professional success is rewarded with money. By giving students a “salary” for doing their jobs, schools teach students the value of hard work, a lesson vital to any career.

If schools in low-income districts wish to motivate their students and close the achievement gap, rewarding students for scholastic success would be a simple and effective solution.

CON –

Regardless of their socioeconomic status, rewarding students for academic achievement is unethical because it hurts them in the long term by undermining their desire to work hard.

Educators are sending a negative message to students by implementing these incentives. In other aspects of their lives, such as in relationships and in college, students will not be paid for performance. Training students to be motivated by money is putting them at a disadvantage later in life. Because there are no monetary rewards attached to high school sports or community service, they may miss out on valuable opportunities.

The detrimental psychological impact of these incentives is supported by a study described in Psychology Today in which children were given rewards for their spontaneous actions. After the rewards were withdrawn, the children behaved as they had before without a reward. This same result can be expected to occur with students who receive money for good academic performance.

In this troubled economy, organizations should spend their money in areas that will have a definite educational value, like on new textbooks and technological tools. The money should also provide for the arts and other extracurricular programs, which can help students find their passions so they would be willing to do work without a material incentive.

In the end, money only goes so far. For students, hard work should be its own reward.