Comments on: Rewarding (Bribing) Children To Learn

By: Home4skool

Home4skool — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:49:47 +0000

We are with a charter homeschool and came upon this very topic at a recent meeting. Our "teacher" suggested that one of our children work through one-and-a-half grade levels between Feb. and June. When I told her that the child had no intrinsic motivation to do so, I was met with a blank stare. Home4skools last blog post..Don't sweat the small stuff or time to switch charters?

By: Paul Hakel

Paul Hakel — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:42:39 +0000

Learning is a reward in itself; if students don’t want to learn a given material, they either don’t understand it or it isn’t something worth learning.

By: Ruby

Ruby — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:32:00 +0000

I just had to chime in about the rewards given by schools! When our kids were in public school they were constantly "earning" candy, gum, popsicles, pizza, you name it. And if it wasn't candy or food it was stickers and certificates.

Imagine, they'd send a kid to the principal's office to read for her & the kid would come out with a reading certificate & a strip of stickers! And I'm not talking about a kid who had been working particularly hard to overcome a challenge or one that had been showing superior performance. They just sent kids for this sort of thing daily. They went when it was their turn, and I never knew a kid to not get the reward.

There was one teacher in the school who stands out in my mind. She taught grade 3/4, and she arranged it that her classroom would be near the kindergarten and pre-k classes. When one of the wee ones began to show an interest in reading the kindergarten teacher would give them a really easy reader, and they would practice until they could read it perfectly. Then they would visit the grade 3/4 room and they would stand at the podium to read aloud for the class. Their reward for reading was the chance to show off the skill to the older children, who were a perfectly attentive audience & applauded afterward. Everyone was proud of the younger student. That was their reward, and it made them want to read more!

Forget the McDonald's gift certificates and the pizza lunches, that kind of thing is quickly eaten and kids rarely remember what they did to earn it anyway. The atmosphere this special teacher created, that was priceless and will not soon be forgotten.

Cheers!
Ruby in Montreal

Ruby's Star
Freehold2

By: Courtney

Courtney — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:12:00 +0000

I have always felt the same way about rewards/bribes. It used to bother me when my oldest (who loved reading – it was a true passion) would get asked by librarians about doing their summer reading program. I would often say in response “Reading is the reward.” As homeschoolers, we were in the library year round during school hours with my daughter checking out tons of books. Then I felt like during the summer, she was getting the message “I know you don’t want to read but, if you do, we’ll give you this.” Of course “this” was always something I didn’t want her to have anyway – coupons for McDonalds, cheepo slave labor toys, etc. I felt like avoiding the library in the summer. Nobody ever says “If you watch such and such amount of t.v., I’ll give you this.” Well, maybe marketers do, but parents don’t usually. They use not being able to watch t.v. as a punishment. With reading, it is the opposite. People really don’t consider the backwards message here.

Chris, I like what you said when including grades in the bribe.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Chris…I loved everything you wrote.

***Imagine that, children who are not wild hooligans, but have no real punishments and only natural consequences for their behavior, desirable or not.***

That made me smile.

By: chris

chris — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:42:00 +0000

I remember my school days, I remember the feeling of anger at the insult of the bribes– which included grades. I remember confusion at getting the ‘right’ answer, but being told that I didn’t follow the ‘right’ steps and shouldn’t read ahead or take short cuts… then later, they taught the short cuts that I had been punished for using. I remember not honoring learning because I was only expected to regurgitate facts.

People are always telling me how great my kids are and that I am so lucky. I am lucky, and my kids are great, but I have never bribed them to be that way. They have never earned points for being polite or respectful, they have never been paid to complete their chores. They have been paid to do extra work around the house, which is always optional. My son recently asked me to help him find some sort of home based business so that he could earn extra cash. He didn’t harangue me to give him money or to buy him this or that. My kids have few real requirements placed on them and yet, they do what they are supposed to do most of the time, usually cheerfully. In this house they are honored for being wonderful human beings and reminded when they are a bit less than wonderful–”Is it necessary to tell your sister that she can be mean?” Imagine that, children who are not wild hooligans, but have no real punishments and only natural consequences for their behavior, desirable or not.

By: Joanne

Joanne — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:03:00 +0000

Hi manodogs...thanks for stopping by.

I read your post. A teacher once offered my son $10 to *learn* (it's not real learning-they just want the students to be able to regurgatate the information back to them) his nine times table. Guess what happened? He memorized it long enough to recite it back, bought Yu-Gi-Oh cards with the money and still doesn't know his nine times table.

You wrote this in your post:
*According to opponents, why should we reward students for studying? My response: Then why should we punish them if they don't?*

I'm as opposed to rewards as I am to punishment. Maybe if a child is failing a class, the teacher should get punished instead of the teacher. The teacher failed to teach the student the way the student needed to be taught.

You wrote about employers rewarding their workers but I don't agree that a childs "job" is school. I know that parents just love to tell their kids that school is their job but I don't agree and I never told my kids that when they were in school.

So while I understand and somewhat agree with what you're saying...we're coming from this topic from two totally different angles.

Thanks again for stopping by.

By: ManoDogs

ManoDogs — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:30:00 +0000

Interesting take on the subject. I spoke on this the other day, in regards to a new program they are rolling-out in Georgia.

While I completely understand what you are saying, I have to disagree. I believe there is a lot to be said for positive reinforcement.

I'd love for you to check out what I had to say and leave a link back to this article! I think it gives a good, and valid, counterpoint.