Grades for Pay?

Or is it pay for grades? I think I have written about this topic before but it's worth bringing up again, as a friend of mine was recently recounting how she and her husband have adopted this policy to great success with her two boys who are in 7th and 5th grade. They established a pay scale according to the report card grade - ie, an A earns $10, a B+ $5, a B $5, and down the line. I don't think a C garners any dollars, but I am not sure.

I personally think kids should do well in school because that's what is expected of them, and as my dad used to say, when you are in school, your only job is to do well in school. That's it. Although when you are a kid, that sounds much easier than the reality. On the other hand, if you have a child who is motivated by money yet not motivated by school, this incentive could definitely help.

The other situation you can run into as a parent - which I actually have in the past - is when your child has tried their very best, yet their very best is a C+. How do you reward effort when the grade doesn't necessarily reflect that effort, especially if you have more than one child? I guarantee you will run into a chorus of "That's not fair!"s from siblings. Last year, when my older daughter was in 5th grade, her grades started to slip for the first time in her school career, meaning she wasn't pulling straight A's because school was challenging for the first time. She got a few B's on her report card, so I somewhat casually threw out a "If you get all A's we will go to dinner and a movie," or some kind of reward. She immediately burst into tears - what if she just couldn't get all A's? She was beside herself for the evening, even after I explained, over and over, that I was really just looking for her best effort, it wasn't the grade that was the most important thing.

So I think I will continue my policy of no pay for grades (I think that's the correct term), but a couple of at-ta boys when the good grades we expect come home, and some discussion and re-focusing when they don't. What do you think - is monetary rewarding of good grades a good idea?