Should Students Get Paid For Grades Essay

1080 Words5 Pages

Did you know that students can gain over $300 just for doing school work in schools around the U.S.(“Cash for Grades”)? Well, some people think giving money to students can spoil them, but it is clear that cash for grades programs can help students succeed in school. Paying students for their good grades is beneficial because it helps low income students and communities, it can lead to better grades, and it enhances their motivation to succeed.

Students should be paid for good grades because low income areas can be strengthened by the extra money. In the article, “Cash for Grades,” it mentions that “Cash-for-grades programs level the playing field for students in poor neighborhoods. Those students may face challenges that wealthier students …show more content…

According to an article named, “Paying Students for Grades,” at Hartselle High School in Alabama, students will receive $100 for passing an Advanced Placement course. This means more students will be able to pass and therefore get better grades (McDaniel). What is truly remarkable about this is that passing an advanced placement class is a great advantage when trying to get into colleges, and with the money incentives in place, more students will have this advantage. These colleges would then make people smarter, and make the world a better place in the long run. Furthermore, another article states that, “As a result of the policy [the cash for grades programs], far more students took AP classes and AP tests… and far more students scored a 3 or better [a pass or a good grade in Waxahachie AP exams]” (Cash for Grades). Thus demonstrating that these cash-for-grades programs have already affected student’s grades in a positive way. If cash-for-grades were simply implemented in more schools, more students would have better grades, which means they would probably have more knowledge which they can apply to a tremendous amount of situations in real life. It might appear as if some students will not have their grades benefit from the cash-for-grades programs. Nevertheless, my point still stands because a lot of students will benefit from the programs making the programs still …show more content…

To elaborate, this article states that “Schools, supporters note, have often used negative stimuli, such as detention and summer school, to encourage better academic performance. Positive reinforcement, they say, may have a better chance for success.” Thus demonstrating that cash-for-grades programs would probably be one of the best forms of motivation as it is positive reinforcement and not negative reinforcement. With all of the negativity already associated with school, cash for grades programs would certainly be helpful. Moreover, the same article mentions that many wealthy students already have money incentives if they do well in school, and those have been proven to motivate the student many times (Cash for Grades). Thus proving that cash incentives motivate some students a lot already which means that cash-for-grades programs would certainly work because it would motivate students who don’t already have some at home and give extra motivation to students who do. It would be easy to believe that cash-for-grades programs just spoil the kids participating in them. This view seems plausible at first, but it fails to acknowledge that cash-for-grades programs only reward children who get good grades. Usually children with good grades have to spend more time working to get their grade, so they will treat the money like a

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