Time: Should Schools Bribe Kids?
Monday, April 26th, 2010The cover story of the April 19, 2010 issue of Time Magazine reports on cash incentivisation in elementary and middle schools to raise academic performance. The article written by Amanda Ripley is titled “Is Cash The Answer?” It traces an experiment conducted by Professor Roland Fryer, Jr. at Harvard’s Department of Economics whereby students were paid money for a wide variety of behaviors such as attendance, reading and test performance. I support the notion that this is an interesting experiment and the results fascinate my interest in psychology. However, any hint that this is for the purpose of sustainable educational reform is objectionable from my viewpoint. Mainly, it amplifies an adult obsession for monetary reward which erodes at the effort to preserve and foster youthful creativity and leadership. Further, it does not help students achieve “placement” as I have diagrammed in an earlier post about leadership by age stages. I would suggest that monetary rewards distorts any vision of leadership and retards progress towards harnessing creativity potential. Using a chemical toxicology analogy, the cash is a xenobiotic toxicant (ie, unnatural) that enters the body and acts as a stimulus, but hinders normal body life function such as growth, disease resistance, and even intelligent thought. As with real toxicants, the effects are even more devastating in young children. Think harder. There’s got to be a better way.