Should kids be bribed to do schoolwork or chores?

Sure. “If you do your homework I won’t whack your ass”. Is that the sort of thing you mean?

There is no way that I would ever consider bribing a kid to do anything – though I might reward good behaviour.

I picked out these specific lines from the article because of their importance and relevancy. They help to sum up my feelings about the bribery to complete chores/schoolwork:

Teachers complain that we are rewarding kids for doing what they should be doing of their own volition.

Psychologists warn that money can actually make kids perform worse by cheapening the act of learning.

Parents predict widespread slacking after the incentives go away.

@Bluefreedom Thanks for reading first. What about this quote:

In principle, Fryer agrees. “Kids should learn for the love of learning,” he says. “But they’re not. So what shall we do?” Most teenagers do not look at their math homework the way toddlers look at a blank piece of paper. It would be wonderful if they did. Maybe one day we will all approach our jobs that way. But until then, most adults work primarily for money, and in a curious way, we seem to be holding kids to a higher standard than we hold ourselves.

We tried to institute a chart and stars reward system for my older son when he was about 5. He decided he didn’t want to participate because “after a while, you’ll just expect me to do the chores without the stars.” He was sharper than us even at 5!

Half & half. I see no harm in rewarding my kids for making Honor Roll….it’s the cherry on the cake if you ask me. They worked hard, so why not?

As far as chores, that goes on a sliding scale in my home. They don’t pitch in around the house? They gets nothing. Kids are no dummies, if they want money for something specific, they’ll start hustling around the house. Nothing wrong with that. I hustle for extra $ when I want something.

So, I don’t ask nor nag them….with the exception of keeping their own room clean – that is mandatory, no rewards for that.

I don’t know about schoolwork, but for chores I think it’s a bad idea—depending, maybe, on how it’s done.

My wife was big on things like, “I’ll give you $20 if you just clean your room.” While it may have gotten done, the room was never kept up. It was more financially viable for the kids to wait until she was too frustrated to deal with it and offer them more money to do what they should have been doing all along. Even now, if you tell them to pick up their things you usually get a response back asking how much money they’ll get if they do it.

I think a better way is to give them an allowance. Say, $10 a week. But for everything that isn’t done, you deduct a certain amount of money. So, if they didn’t do the dishes when they were supposed to instead of getting $10 at the end of the week they get $5.

@mrentropy Interesting. Thanks.

“We tend to assume that kids (and adults) know how to achieve success. If they don’t get there, it’s for lack of effort — or talent. Sometimes that’s true. But a lot of the time, people are just flying blind.”

And that’s what needs the focus.

We all work for incentives, some as blatant as cash, others not so blatant. Why not accept this reality and work with it? Why not figure out how to teach kids the tools that build success? Why would anyone even push for success if not for the rewards, intrinsic ones like satisfaction of accomplishment or use of one’s loves and talents, or external, like some cash in the bank, a nice house and travel? After all, adults get bonuses at work, don’t they?

If this experiment seeks to answer some of these questions, then I’m in favour, and yes, I’m in favour of incentives for kids.

One thing I question, and have always questioned, is whether test scores are an indication of learning. I don’t think they are. They are an indication that a child has learned to say what a teacher or school system wants them to say, and that’s about it. I do think you can pay automatons to read, do homework and to do chores. You cannot pay anyone to develop a passion for learning or a passion for doing what is right in their family setting. The man who conducted the experiments in the article actually touched on this in saying that the impetus to finding his own passion for learning was initially shame. It wasn’t because he was paid.

I didn’t “bribe” mine, but I did tie certain expectations and rewards to getting things done that should be done. For example, allowance was tied to doing chores. With chores, there was some choice, and they were welcome to trade with each other. If there was something expensive they wanted, they were welcome take on extra work in order to get it.

Things like dance lessons, tennis, after school activities that cost money were earned by getting good grades. However, responsibility to completing school work and studying came before anything else and they were not bribed for doing their school work. The expectation was that they would work hard, and do their best work every day, and correct their mistakes. Studying is the work of children. I checked homework (because they asked me to) all the way through high school, and they corrected their own mistakes. Even in college, I’m sometimes asked to proof papers.

We didn’t have a lot of “stuff” that were distractions in the house. One television, in a central location off the kitchen, no games systems, computer was in a shared location, etc.

Money and privileges are motivators for adults at work, and I see nothing wrong with kids being incentivized for certain things. But you do have to choose your priorities, because there are conflicts. Which comes first—school, chores or sports/extracurriculars? We all made sacrifices for schoolwork coming first, in terms of no one watched television until homework was done, paying for tutors and academic enrichment programs, providing access to books and learning materials, talking about what they were learning and sometimes supplementing the material.

ADD: When they got older, I would give them a list of things to do, and a time by which I expected them to be completed, with some negotiation as to the “when” factor. Asking a teen to block out some time to do certain things requires being respectful of their own time, seemed to yield better cooperation, because the issue then became about them honoring their commitment, and not about me trying to control them.

That was a fascinating article, thank you for posting it! I wish I had more time to digest and discuss but I don’t so I’ll sum up my initial reaction before I forget it.

In a society that’s already materialistic and reward driven to the point of their own detriment, this just seems like something that won’t end well.

But I do agree strongly with the his comment that some kids don’t do well because they don’t know how to do well. Telling someone to answer a question when they don’t have a proper frame of reference, background in the subject, or an understanding of how to go about looking for the tools necessary to solve the problem doesn’t work.

Anyway, that’s my first thought, thanks again!

@lynfromnm One thing I question, and have always questioned, is whether test scores are an indication of learning. I don’t think they are.

What a strange comment. Of course tests “indicate” the degree of learning. If a person scores low, unless there are exceptional circumstance, that person has learned less than those who score high. A series of tests will give eliminate any exceptional circumstances and give a very good indication as to how well a person is learning. What better method can you suggest?

Your question and the examples presented, remind me of a ten year old boy that eventually was arrested.

Drug dealer was offering him $50 dollars to run a sack of drugs from one location to another. what kind of lesson do you think the ten year old was learning from this transaction? same difference. ten year old was ruined by the thought of big money for doing nothing.

Wife and i never bribed our children to do anything. they were given an order and that was it! if they did a good job, we rewarded them. this was after the fact and not before the fact.

@Zen_Again. In considering that quote, I concede that adolescents/students/teenagers probably have a shorter attention span nowadays or don’t place enought emphasis or thought about how important their own educations will be in their futures. If an incentive of some sort has to be offered, I wonder if they could find alternatives to money and/or gifts although those two choices would be the most appealing I presume.

@john65pennington I’m not sure whether you read the article or not. Regardless, in response to your question, “Drug dealer was offering him $50 dollars to run a sack of drugs from one location to another. what kind of lesson do you think the ten year old was learning from this transaction?”

I don’t think he learned a lesson but rather looked at it as a job opportunity. An illegal one, but still a job.

Not what the article is about.

My nephew is teaching in an inner-city school and he has had to develop some techniques to motivate his kids. He passes out B___ (his last name) Bucks during the week for good behaviors and on Fridays the kids get rewards like chewing gum, stickers, fancy erasers, etc. It’s working very well, not costing him much and surprisingly effective considering that these are high school, not grade school, kids!

@janbb It’s working very well, not costing him much and surprisingly effective

Maybe you should suggest he compares the (mis)quoted bible references mentioned in that article and sees whether terminal stoning or Raven “eye-picking” improves or detracts from the overall results.

(I couldn’t handle being a teacher – not as long as “pupil-cide” is illegal.)

No, they don’t have to be bribed. They need to be shown how to do it, how to manage it and to develop the confidence that they can do it. They need to be given love, support and encouragement. Montessori style.

I know a lot of people are going to disagree with how I keep the house or think about education but to each their own. I give rewards and incentives without conditions, to both my child and my students. Children need to feel loved and accepted for who they are not what they can / can’t do. Most of the chores my daughter does comes from her wanting to do it. The house isn’t perfect but it doesn’t have to be. I just let go and let her experience what it feels like when the room is inhabitable or when there’s nothing to wear anymore.

We homeschool now and I’ve seen how allowing a child to grow at her own pace, to make sense of how to do something, to take time to build her confidence and skills is what makes them self-directed. Children WANT us to hold them to high standards, to have high expectations of them. Very often children “fail” because of our failures to help them learn how to succeed.

zen, i did read the article in its entirety. i may have wondered a little off course, but this incident just came to me and i thought it was worth sharing with other people. we never bribed our children. sorry if my answer was a little misleading. that was an excellent article and i am amazed at what some parents will do, in order to make their children co-operate with them. thats not leadership….....it sets a bad example that parents are not parents, that they are only the “prize givers”. bad example.

@john65pennington No problem.

@Darkscribe, I also question whether or not test scores are an indication of learning. I think they’re an indication of programming. Not all tests are created fairly examine whether or not you know the material, because the questions are biased by the test preparer. The tests are not always prepared correctly, and the right answer is sometimes incorrect on the scoring key.

For example, if you are studying US History, how do you answer “Columbus discovered America: True or False?” The real answer is that Columbus landed in Central America and Haiti. He never set foot on what would become the United States. So my daughters would answer the question as False, for that very reason, and get the question marked wrong. According to the teacher, the answer should be True, because in the text book on US History, it said Columbus discovered America. What was left out was the voyages made by John Cabot and financed by Richard Amerike. And the book never mentioned that Amerigo Vespucci went to South America and the Indies, and not North America.

I believe children should demonstrate knowledge by writing and by projects and presentations.

I’m with @PandoraBoxx on this one.

@PandoraBoxx how do you answer “Columbus discovered America:

Bad question. We were taught that Columbus discovered the “Americas”. You cannot discount a working system because is not one hundred percent effective at all times. More importantly, you should not consider abandoning any vital system unless you have something of equal of better value to replace it.

I think that for some students like the problem students mention it’s got possibilities. Usually, problem kids have dysfunctional dynamics going on at home and a feeling of accomplishment and a visible sigh of it are good things in themselves that they probably don’t get at home. This could even reverse an otherwise negative trend for a lot of individuals with a deck stacked against them.
For others who need to be shown how, I think more teachers need to learn about individual learning styles and make adaptations. The visual learner, the hands on learner, etc.
Winning, doing well, a sense of accomplishment, can all be habit forming. I’d like to see more ways to interest the little dears in actual learning and learning how to learn.

@DarkScribe, organized education is only a framework for learning. Standardized testing measures regurgitation of information presented in that framework. Unless the materials used in all school systems are the same, and the testing is prepared by the company or individual who wrote the book, then testing can never be fair. Many schools do not have the money for text books. How can you accurately test of not all students start out from the same place? Text books provided a survey or overview of a topic. If there is not universal agreement as to what should be included in a text book, testing begins as a bias, and there is no way children can perform well.

Standardized testing has nothing to do with actually knowing information and how to apply it.

@PandoraBoxx Standardized testing has nothing to do with actually knowing information and how to apply it.

I disagree, but perhaps you have different educational standards in your school system. You still don’t answer the question – what is a better practical way?

I don’t believe in bribing. At different ages I have given the kids an allowance with the expectation that they would keep their rooms clean etc.

I have spent their whole lives explaining that everyone has to pitch in. It is not fair to slack off and have someone else pull your weight. They didn’t get it for a long time, but I kept it up and they are now doing so.

As to home work., I home school and we have a daily routine. Once they are done their schoolwork they can do what ever they want.

I think that many parents and people in general, have all these lofty and arrogant ideas of how kids ‘should’ be, when, infact, the sad truth is, the vast majority of parents are incredibly immature themselves.

Lead by example…not hierarcy.

Punishing a child for not cleaning their room when mom is up to her eyeballs in dirty laundry and dishes because she has poor motivation…well…talk about an oxymoron.

I never bribed my daughter but was very praiseworthy of a job well done, and she did receive an allowance with a bit extra for extra help as she got older.

Of course all kids are different and therefore the motivations will be different.

I was lucky, my daughter was very diligent all on her own, never even had to ask if she had done her homework much after about 2nd grade.

It cracks me up how many parents have such hardcore expectations of their kids, being the immature little beings they are, and crack the whip like an overseer.

The old ’ do as I say, not as I do.’

The best motivator for children are parents that lead by example.

@ DarkScribe : Scrap the standardized testing. It’s a long story and not something within the scope of this discussion. A better, practical way : developing the WHOLE individual and not make children feel as if their entire worth as an individual hinges on standardized tests.

For some context, look up HOWARD GARDNER, HOW CHILDREN LEARN on youtube.

@shalom DarkScribe : Scrap the standardized testing. It’s a long story and not something within the scope of this discussion.

Isn’t it?

No, I would not (supposing that it was in my power to do so) consider scrapping something that works for most people in favour of educational anarchy – which is what we would have unless it was replaced with something both better and practicable. From what I can see, the problem seems to be with the parents of problem children, not with those who do well and go on to do well in careers. Making their schooling easier will not do them any favours in the real world. Employers are not going to make allowances for half trained job applicants.

The key is a practicable answer, not complaints about the system coupled with wishful thinking.

@DarkScribe I disagree that testing in schools is an accurate reflection of learning. As an language teacher, for example, I have known students who performed terribly when it came to testing, but they were more than competent at holding a conversation. At the same time other students did brilliantly in tests, but couldn’t string two words together if you paid them, pun intended. I don’t think anyone is suggesting that we shouldn’t use testing in some way to quantify learning, but the ways in which testing is carried out is in most cases inherently flawed. In my example, I’m referring to written tests for language students. This kind of test allows some students to shine whilst denying others the chance to show how their skills have developed. The other thing one has to be wary about with school testing, is who the results are really for. In most cases, not the students themselves. I don’t know about anywhere else, but in Britain we have horrible things called school league tables. Every year schools are ranked according to how their students performed in testing, and results are published for parents to read. Some people actually use these tables as a basis for deciding where to send their kids, which ultimately results in schools falling over one another to do well in testing. Students end up being ‘taught for test’, as opposed to just taught, which benefits no one other than the schools admissions, and ultimately puts enormous pressure on students, teachers and schools alike to ‘do well in the leagues’.

I’m not suggesting there should be no tests, but there simply shouldn’t be a ‘one test suits all’ approach. If we really want to know how a student has improved, we as teachers should endeavour to test to students’ strengths.

So go ahead, pick me apart. I await with eagerness.

@Zen_Again I will come back to your question more fully momentarily.

@jeanmay So go ahead, pick me apart. I await with eagerness.

I have no wish to pick you apart – I agree with much of what you say. My contention is not that testing is the best way – I could device much better ways myself – but that change must be slow and do no damage. There is no (I use the word yet again) practicable way to change the system until something that is better and that can be smoothly implemented is available, along with the funding etc., to achieve it. As it stands it works to a degree, it has for centuries. It works for most kids. There have always been exceptions and even if/when an ideal system replaces conventional testing – you can be sure that some kids will not benefit – some will fall through the new cracks.

First of all thanks for a great article and question @Zen_Again.

I’m a firm believer in education for education’s sake, and the idea of just using monetary incentives does not sit easy with me. I disagree that most adults work primarily for money. If that is true then me and everyone I know are in the minority. Granted we all need the basic essentials to survive, but we don’t need money to get them; plenty of people are self-sufficient. If I worked primarily for money, believe you me I wouldn’t be a teacher. I work because teaching keeps me learning, because I still have faith in education, because I truly want to give something back to society and I believe that this is a good way to do it. This may all sound a bit hippy wishy-washy, but my point is that money doesn’t provide a good enough incentive for everyone.

I do, however, think that using a range of different incentives might prove successful. I like the sound of the Knowledge Is Power programme, as it seems to do just that. Students are not actually given a cheque as such, but “money” they can redeem for supplies at the school store. Also high school kids can earn freedoms – like the privilege of listening to their ipods at lunch – brilliant, if that’s what works for them.

In conclusion, I don’t think that solely throwing money at any social problem can ever completely solve it, but can only form part of a solution.

@DarkScribe So basically you agree that testing is not an accurate measure of learning, whilst adding it’s all we’ve been able to come up with so far. Not so far away from what @lynfromnm originally stated.

Now I have to go to bed as my eyeballs are actually bleeding. Night all.

No, I don’t think so.
I imagine that kids would learn to do things simply because money is involved, not because it’s their responsibility, or because they have a desire to better themselves.

@jeanmay So basically you agree that testing is not an accurate measure of learning,

No, what I agree that it is possible to improve on conventional testing. There is a difference. I think that in most cases it is quite accurate – accurate enough to enable an estimation of a student’s capabilities – even if not a perfect estimation.

In almost every area of life there are things that can be improved. Laws, motor vehicles, political systems, court systems, roads, religions, social security, medical services – and schooling. The thing is that to make changes, first there has to be agreement on what to change from and what to change to, there has to be sufficient finance in the kitty to implement it, and it has to be done in such a way that it doesn’t create problems, do damage while being implemented. It also needs a “triage” approach, and in my oinion there are more essential issues than radically changing a system that has been effective for centuries- simply because some people aren’t happy with it.

@Darkscribe : In that case we should stick slavery. We should never disrupt the status quo that has been effective (for some people) for centuries – simply because some people aren’t happy with it. You are obviously not an educator and do not have very detailed knowledge about Industrial Schooling and the variables and dynamics of testing vs. learning. I’ll stick with what Howard Gardner says.

@shalom In that case we should stick slavery. We should never disrupt the status quo

Let me know if you ever want to respond to what is actually said – it might be more interesting than your current effort.

What a terrible article. There’s a reason it was published in “Time” and not in a reputable education journal. It says nothing and proves nothing.

As to the question, should you bribe children…my answer is no.

@skfinkel Sometimes bribing a child is good. Example….
“Hey kids, when Mommy gets home from work, don’t tell her I was on the computer for hours. OK? I was busy working in the garage. Got it?”

Reach into my pocket…..

“Here, go to the store and get yourselves a bag of chips or something.”

@DarkScribe Yes, test scores are an indication that you can memorize and repeat that which is being spoonfed. To me, that isn’t “learning” and it has little value.

NO

You know, when my kids were little, I did whatever it took to get them to potty train. For one, paying him in jelly beans did the job. Another liked to sit on the pot and read books. I even had a little basket by the potty filled with books she could only read when she was on the potty. I changed them out before she got bored with them. Still another didn’t care what rewards we offered. He simply was not interested. But eventually everyone learned, and each of them has come to actually enjoy the feeling of being clean and dry all day, without having to change clothes and wash up, or be rewarded in some way for doing it.

My point is, if it works, do it. But you might have to find other motivators for other kids who don’t care, but let’s find it.

No. I really like the answers that said don’t make kids clean, Try to get it to where the want to help out. Maybe once in a while give them a reward for doing a well job. The one thing I don’t believe in is telling them they have to clean their room, that is their room and they can live in it however they feel comfortable and suits their preference. Just as we as their parents have our room how we like it.

I wonder how long the success will last? Will they have to keep paying the kids all through school? They said in Dallas the second graders did better and the effect lasted another year even without pay. I wonder how long that will go on. Maybe if they get in the habit of learning, it will go on and on. My wife and I were told that the most important years to have your kids in a good school were the first years. If they learn how to learn early, they’ll be able to do it from then on.

Anyway, if this method can get kids started and then they can continue on their own, I would support it. If you have to pay kids from then on, I wouldn’t support it. I don’t want to raise young people who will only work if there’s something in it for them (besides the intrinsic value of learning).

Still, the article said there were only significantly good results in one city. One has to wonder if the system really does work, or if there are other factors involved in the kids’ success. I would remain wary until a lot more data comes in.

The Jesuits had a saying: “Give me a boy until he is 7 and I will give you the man,” so I’m not shocked at the success of the 2nd graders.

No, homework is for them—no one else. Chores are part of being a family member.

@lynfromnm
DarkScribe Yes, test scores are an indication that you can memorize and repeat that which is being spoonfed. To me, that isn’t “learning” and it has little value.

We will disagree.

A proper test is not repeating a list of things it is solving problems – indicating that the person has both memorised and understood what they have memorised. I don’t how you get to “repeating” things – tests evaluate your understanding of things. At least they do in any education institution that I have been associated with.

@DarkScribe You must have been associated with some pretty outstanding education institutions, then. I’ve never had to do anything on tests but regurgitate simple facts that were fed to me.

@Darkscribe – I agree with you about a proper test. Unfortunately those aren’t given in schools. The tests are aimed at the lowest common denominator, courtesy of “no child left behind” and other “leveling” concepts. I’ve seen the tests my grandkids bring home from school, and math aside they have nothing to do with using knowledge at all, just repeating it. The most effective type of testing, it seems to me, would be to test the kids before they learn new concepts as well as after, and measure the difference.

Ultimately, the curriculum and the way that compulsory education treats children illustrates what kind of society people want to live in, hence the strength of feeling this topic evokes.

It’s interesting that the most effective trial made a close temporal link between effort and reward – children and teenagers tend to be significantly poorer at forming longer-term plans and delaying rewards than adults. They live much more in the here and now.

Idealism – kids should learn for the love of learning – is admirable, but as a practical solution, a reward is a good way to link positive feedback to performance, which is critical to how children actually seem to learn.

The question remains whether money is the only plausible reward.

If you really want to get people (or children) to do what you want, reward them sporadically. Like chickens who will peck forever if they don’t know just which peck will do the trick.
Sadly, though, bribing in any way is treating people like animals—which is not to say that bribes won’t work for awhile. But unless they are sporadic, even animals finally get wise that they are being manipulated. And so will children. And, since it is manipulating, they will feel manipulated—which is not really the outcome you want.

I think the only fitting reward is the learning itself.

@MacBean DarkScribe You must have been associated with some pretty outstanding education institutions, then. I’ve never had to do anything on tests but regurgitate simple facts that were fed to me.

All British or Australian, schools and Universities. All exams that I have sat required a display of knowledge and understanding – usually in the form of a problem to be solved using the knowledge that you are supposed to have gained.

Perhaps there really is a huge difference in educational standard and techniques between the US and other countries. We have not had the “No child left behind” nonsense although that appears to be about to creep in.

@DarkScribe: Perhaps there really is a huge difference in educational standard and techniques between the US and other countries.

BINGO, I think. :(

Bribe? As in money??? If that’s what you mean then no but if you mean blackmailing such as ’‘do your homework or you’ll get a serious ass whipping’’ then that’s acceptable under some conditions. You aren’t suppose to beat your kids though but you need to put them in their place. But you should have taught them not to get out of line anyway but…In conclusion, the answer to your question is if you want to buy your kids a little treat after rewarding them for a big test or their first REAl job then of course its fine! But not on a regular basis.

Hi @marissaco and welcome to fluther. Next time, before answering a question, it’s important to read the details. In this case, there was a link to an article – and I asked to read it first. Of course, you are entitled to answer as you like, but it’s a friendly tip to take the time to read the “details” part of the section. Also the “topics” part can be interesting and sometimes even amusing. PM (private message) me again if you need help with anything.

:-)

@marissaco Kids should never be hit for anything. Especially not something like, ” do your homework or you will get an ass whipping ”.

Hm. Well. My kids simply had chores after school. They rotated from week to week. One week one kid had the living room to clean up, with a specific list what needed to be done, and the other had the kitchen and dining room. I never “rewarded” them. I didn’t even have the money to give them an allowance. I just expected them to do it, and they did it.
I don’t think many parents understand the absolute power of “I expect this….” I expected them to be good, to use their heads to be responsible, and for the most part they met my expectations. It’s not anything I said to them, it’s just what I felt, deep down inside. I suppose it came through in my attitude and tone of voice.
When Rick and I got together I noticed that his expectations were that the kids would get in trouble, would lie to us, etc. Fortunately my kids were too far gone under my upbringing to let that affect them much.