CASH INCENTIVES FOR GRADES.

CASH INCENTIVES FOR GRADES. Sam Dillon had an article in the New York Times (October 2) about the success of a national program which pays students and teachers for success on AP exams ($100 to a student with a passing score of 3). I have thought since I was in high school that cash rewards for work in a classroom was a good idea (I didn’t ever expect to see it happen.) After all, it works in all kinds of contexts, even in friendly games of golf. The amount is not large, but I wonder whether the cash changed the attitudes of the students. Back 40 years ago, there were classmates in my large high school who were obviously bright, but who for social reasons avoided studying. There were two towns, and the high school was something like the one in “Grease.” I lived in what was referred to as the “white shoe” town. The kids from the other town were often reluctant to be seen studying. In the reunion reports, I have been pleased to see that a number of these kids evidently blossomed when they got to college—and I have wondered about the kids who didn’t get the opportunity. Social pressures not to learn have always been an educational problem.