Guest Post: What if Students Were Paid to Go to School?

I was pleasantly surprised this week when my Facebook Inbox contained a message from one of my former high school students, Jackie. After being a super star student for me, Jackie went on to Fordham University where she studied Business Administration. She's out in the working world now putting that fabulous degree to work! In her down time, Jackie has been following Rivera Runs Through It and has been wanting to chime in on the big What If questions each week. This week she finally did it! Here is her first contribution to our conversation with her answer to:

What if students were paid to go to school?

Ok, so I feel like I should respond to this as I would with a school assignment (insert 'right out of college' comment here).

What if you were [paid to go to school]?

If I was paid to go to school I really wonder if I would've turned out differently. Would I have been so pressured to do well and profit from it, that I would've completely lost my mind? It's like when people allude to "becoming the job", where it's no longer something you want to do but something you feel that you HAVE to. Kids might begin to dislike (a.k.a. despise) school just like some adults dislike work. It might take the competition and drive out of school, therefore making everyone average, and no one above or exceeding average.*

Is there a particular grade or subject that you think that would have made sense for?

Pre-K... because the kids have no idea what's going on and their parents would probably enjoy the profit from their children's imagination. Aside from that, I don't think that this would work.*

Do you think this idea is ridiculous all together?

No, like most things, I would completely agree that this would've been plausible and even enjoyable at some point in time. However, I don't think it'd work in the present. (See reasoning above)

Should students be paid based on merit (in other words, only get paid if they attain a certain grade or level of achievement)?

I would love to say YES!, but, that still wouldn't work. Today, if you do well in school, you are rewarded with the acceptance to a great college and a scholarship in some cases. This would be the same thing. People would strive for a while but eventually everyone would fall back into the Below, Approaching, Meets, and Exceeds expectations.

What kind of culture do you think would be created by paying students?

I really like this question because this could bring about a culture that makes hard work and reward innate in students from the beginning. However, my reasoning in the previous question still stands. No matter how many rewards there are, students/people (maybe not the same ones), but people in general will still fall below expectations.

This post is written as part of the What IF? Project hosted here on the Rivera Runs Through It Blog. 

I would like to thank Jackie for giving me permission to share her response with you!