BRIBE OR REWARD
Plenty of parents do give money in exchange for A's and B's -- often $5 to $20 for top marks or $100 for a straight-A report card.
Cities are getting into the act as well. New York City rolled out a pilot program last year to reward kids in poor neighborhoods for good test scores. Fourth-grade students in select schools can receive up to $25 for their performances on each of 10 standardized tests, according to The New York Times, while seventh-graders can get up to $50 per test.
But the trend disturbs many experts on parenting and money.
"Rewarding good grades with money is really a gray area," said attorney Jon Gallo, a father of three and co-author with his therapist wife, Eileen, of "The Financially Intelligent Parent: 8 Steps To Raising Successful, Generous, Responsible Children." "Some psychologists believe that paying for grades is a bad idea because it substitutes an external reward -- money -- for an internal sense of satisfaction and therefore interferes with developing a work ethic."
I heard this on the news the other day and could not decide if it was a bad or a good thing.ON one side it does motivate children to study especially children from low income areas,it helps children who normally drop out of school stay in school, on the other side it does give them a wrong sense of value. we did not give our kids weekly allowences for chores they did at home because it was expected of them neither did we pay them to get good grades.I think most children try to deliver what is expected of them if we set ground rules. I really don't know if it hurts or helps a child. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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