For most students, the idea of a cash prize sounds fantastic in any situation, but when achieving high scores in school is the name of the game would they put forth more effort? Many would, and would be awarded for their efforts; however those that do their very best and still fail to meet standards would be treated unfairly. Instead of trying to learn, they would cheat simply for the monetary gain. Why would students care about actually learning something, when putting cash in their pockets is the simple matter of cheating off someone who does care? The answer is simple; they don’t. That is why I believe offering money as an educational initiative is wrong. It is not only morally wrong and unfair, but it would hinder the education of all students.

As lovely as the idea of receiving money for grades sounds, where would the money come from? With today’s poor economy I highly doubt our government is going to provide us with payment. If the supplement is pulled from teachers’ salaries, many of them would go on strike or simply quit. While fundraisers could be held the amount of payment would be unpredictable and unreliable, whereas to be fair we’d need a consistent amount of money to dish out each time a child gets a certain grade. Without adequate funding, the success of this idea is completely unreachable.

If this plan were to be implemented, how would teachers or administrators determine how to reward students? Judging solely on effort would be the most logical and fair way to respond to this, but how do you know when someone has truly earned their grade? A person could easily copy off another person’s paper, and the teacher not notice. In a different light, a student could do his or her absolute best, yet still fail and they teacher would not think he or she worked hard enough. Students may put forth as much time and energy but still underachieve. There is not any truly effective way to judge effort that is not completely without flaw.
When a student receives a good grade, it means he or she has learned something. Getting good grades should be a reward in itself. It should make a student take pride in his or herself for he or she has earned it by working hard. If the government starts paying students to get good grades the focus will be on money, and not about the knowledge they attain.

If students are paid for good grades, school will cease to be a place of fair and equal opportunity. The money initiative would be detrimental to students’ educations. Undoubtedly, I feel that this should not occur; in order to preserve the foundation of a good education.