Argue whether or not paying students for good grades is the best motivational tool - Essay Example

This means that the school and educational system should seek appropriate ways for motivating their students. In some instances, parents and school provide money for good grades. Intrinsic motivation is the best approach of motivation among students since it promotes self-drive and hard work, qualities which are beneficial for the life of a student in the long term. Grades should reflect the intrinsic values of education and learning. This means that education and learning should not be viewed as work that requires payment after the accomplishment of agreed objectives.

This does not mean that education is not tied to work. Education is tied to work because it leads to work that rewards on monetary basis (Rosenbaum 4). Though money for grades is a motivational tool, it is not an effective motivational tool because it is not based on the actual capabilities of the student. In addition, the monetary value attached to grades is not relative to the nature of the examination. This is because examinations are not standardized and they vary with years or school sessions.

Money for grades diminishes the real value of the educational system. In this case, students do not study with the aim of gaining theoretical experiences, but they study with their focus on the examination. The student do not prepare adequately for class work, and in most case, they do not participate in schoolwork (Rosenbaum 7). There only focus in the school environment is to pass the examinations and not to gain the aspects of education that can create an effective platform for their education.

Paying student for good grades should be discouraged since it may lead to cheating. In the scenario that parents or other stakeholder resort to give monetary rewards for students in order to encourage good grades, the students will link academic success with financial incentives (Wiseman and Hunt 62). For instance, a parent may give $10 for As, $5 for Bs and $3 for Cs (Rosenbaum 2). In average, students who then keep their grades above 90 earn the equivalent of $15 each month (Ivanova 1). This will have a detrimental effect on the students since it will influence the learning process negatively.

The students will be preoccupied with attaining the financial incentive. This may lead to frustrations for the students when they do not achieve the required threshold in their academic work. In such instances, the student may resort to shortcuts in order to enhance their academic performance. This urges may encourage cheating in order to achieve good grades. This will impede the learning process rather than encourage the child to acquire new knowledge. This means that children should be encouraged to seek academic success intrinsically as opposed to external motivations like cash rewards (Wiseman and Hunt 62).

Students who are intrinsically motivated to study will be able to achieve good grades without cheating. These students will be aware that the skills learned in school are essential for their future in the society and career wise. Therefore, if cash incentives are involved, the student’s motivation will be blurred and it will be majored on financial incentives. Offering financial rewards for good performance will have a negative effect on the values of the student. Education has the role to shape the morals and values of an individual.

This means that a student should be able to pick positive behaviors and