In Washington, D.C., public schools experimented with implementing a program to motivate students. Middle school students were paid up to $200 a month for attendance, good behavior, and other criteria like wearing uniforms and completing homework and classwork. The Chancellor of D.C. schools said that the payments were meant to motivate students at an age when many start to get bored with school. So she decided it was worth undertaking a monetary incentive program to see if it improved their motivation to do well.

Over the course of the school year, participating students received an average of approximately $530 each, for a total payout of $1.2 million. Harvard economist Roland Fryer analyzed the findings from the incentive study. He concluded that students who were paid through this incentive program scored slightly higher on some district tests than students who weren’t offered a monetary incentive.

Some people criticize the idea of paying students to attend and do well in school. After all, in some countries, many students are willing to pay fees and undergo considerable hardship to attend school. Why should American students receive money for attending? Furthermore, paying students might undermine their natural motivation to learn. Even if paying students gets some quick results, wouldn’t it be better in the long run to undertake changes or reforms to make school more interesting?

Others think that monetary incentives should only be used to motivate students who are more likely to struggle in school. In France, for example, there was a movement to pay students from low-income areas to attend school. Many argued that incentives would encourage these students who were at risk of dropping out to stay in school. This would help the country as a whole.

Defenders of the incentive program say the issue is simple: We should do whatever it takes to enable students to do better in school. They won’t learn if they are not in school, so paying for attendance is worth it. Others are confident that paying students for different things like reading books would have an even greater effect. What is your opinion? Should students ever be paid to attend or do well in school?