Should I Be Paying for Grades? Helping Kids With School

Your kids will be bringing report cards home soon, and you may be getting ready to hand out some cash. And if that isn’t the deal you have with your kids, you’ve probably thought about it at some point.

Should I be paying my kids for getting good grades in school?

If your parents pulled out their wallets for great grades when you were a kid, it might make sense for you do the same thing. Just a few years ago, this T. Rowe Price survey showed almost half of all responding parents used money as a motivator for improved school performance.

But you may have heard paying for grades can backfire on parents too.

Kids who are failing may give up and quit working hard if they know they won’t get the reward in the end. Or they may turn to cheating or seeking extra credit to get higher grades, even if they don’t understand the material.

Some students may even refuse to take challenging courses. Those are real possibilities if students learn to love money more than learning.

Does Learning Require a Reward?

Money, toys, dinners out, or unique experiences tied to grades are considered extrinsic motivators. Kids are motivated by the reward they’ll get, rather than by how they’ll feel inside about what they have accomplished in school.

While rewards may work in the short-term, research shows mixed results on paying students to do well…