Paying Students For Good Grades

In a recent study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, researchers found that money improved high school student's academic performance and behavior by 15 to 20% average compared to students who were not offered money. Impressively, for students who were closest to the threshold of the achievement standards, the financial incentives have improved their performance on average by 34 to 40%. So students should be paid for their grades because it would increase students' grades, they would get better jobs, and learn that it benefits them further in life.

If you have a child or student who is at risk of not graduating, you might try everything to put them on the right track. Offering funds might come to your mind. If children get paid it might help them to get on the right track and make them smarter. The idea of getting paid for grades appeals to most students but Amy McCready (a writer on parenting) disagrees. She says that “students might think of filling their pockets with money and not filling their heads with knowledge.

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” But researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research disagree and agree at the same time because they might think about that but that doesn’t mean that they don’t still know what they learned is not there. It still could remain in their heads. Let’s say that a student doesn’t use the metric system but still learned it, then went on a trip to a place that uses it, and they forgot it, after seeing it again it might come back to them.

This is just one reason students should be paid for their grades. But could it help after school with jobs?

With the knowledge that students learned from school and the cash they earned from grades, they could get well-paying jobs. At a young age, a job would be helpful. With a job people earn money, but during school, jobs help.

Granted jobs during school students wouldn’t have time to do homework or study, and students could get overwhelmed but many good things come from jobs. Jobs during school help them earn money for books and laptops, meaning that they can increase study potential. On top of that students will increase the variety of jobs they might want to work with. Let’s say someone wants to join the medical field but they are too young, then they work at a restaurant and think it is fun, they might think of being something that includes cooking or cleaning. Not only will students get better jobs it also teaches that hard work will benefit them.

If students work hard it will benefit them in some way, shape, or form. A lot of situations students are in are bad in a way like doing drugs, smoking, and drinking. But students might think twice about doing stuff like that if it affects their grade because it will affect their money input. Students will think of the money in situations like that but it keeps them from doing bad decisions. Parents do not want children to do bad decisions but paying them keeps them from doing that and that really benefits both a student and parent's life. Hard work benefits and pays off for many more reasons.

Students should be paid for their grades because it would increase grades, they would get better jobs, and learn that it benefits them further in life. It will teach that students who get paid are better and more well behaved and advance further in life.  

Works cited

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2. Braun, S. (2017). The effects of financial incentives on academic achievement in high school. National Bureau of Economic Research. doi: 10.3386/w23809
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5. Henderson, M., & Mapp, K. (2002). A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement. National Center for Family & Community Connections with Schools.
6. McCready, A. (2019, September 25). Why Paying Kids to Get Good Grades Doesn't Pay Off. NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/why-paying-kids-get-good-grades-doesn-t-pay-ncna1054566
7. Muller, C. (2018). The effects of financial incentives on student achievement: Evidence from randomized experiments. Journal of Labor Economics, 36(4), 881-912. doi: 10.1086/697177
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