Should students be paid to do well in school?  It’s an idea that I’ve hear posed in many meetings by teachers and administrators who don’t know what else to do.  There is enormous pressure for students to do well on tests that they don’t see as relevant and therefor don’t always do their best.  But no one ever says pay, they use the nicer word ‘incentive’.  Compelling arguments are made against mainly that wanting to learn should be an intrinsic quality.  And compelling arguments are made for, especially for students that may be helping to support their family and have no choice but to choose working over studying.

But until today, I hadn’t heard of a successful initiative that paid students to study.   In Atlanta, 35 students that were barely passing school were paid $8 an hour to study. Click here to learn more.

What do you think about paying kids to study?  For or Against?  Why?  Were you ever paid for your grades?