Paying students for good grades and attendance???

The New York Times recently published an article titled "Schools Plan to Pay Cash For Marks," a program where students would be paid monetarily for their grades and attendance. To be honest, I am amazed that this incentive program is being implemented in the fall of this year. Schools are now going to pay students to do well? This is an extrinsic motivator that will only temporarily to get students to learn the content. But here is the bigger question: What are we ultimately teaching students? By paying students for making high grades on standardized tests, they are only going to work hard to get the cash. After they have the cash, the "learned material" goes right out the window. We might as well teach to the test. I don't believe that this program will have any significant impact. The underlying motive underneath this program is to help schools meet AYP. If the schools didn't have to meet AYP, the administration wouldn't be so desperate for ways to increase student achievement, hence this hair-brained scheme of monetarily rewarding students wouldn't even be discussed. In two years when this program is up for re-evaluation, I think there are going to be quite a few disappointed administrators in the small value this program actually has.

Source:
Medina, Jennifer. (2007, June 19). Schools plan to pay cash for marks. The New York Times. Retrieved June 25, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/nyregion/19schools.html?ex=1183003200&en=8767cf69c1aa10e8&ei=5024&partner=BLACKBOARD.