Merit Systems - Do you use them

[Corinne]

Alfie Kohn argues that merit and award systems destroy intrinsic motivation, but I've always worked in schools which rely on them for both classroom management and to celebrate achievements throughout the year. What do you think of merit systems? Are they helpful or counterproductive?

[Tracey]

My end goal is to get away from rewards when I feel compelled to use them. Some students only operate that way. I just started rewarding a 3rd grader in my class for holding his pencil the correct way. No one could read his writing. (NO teacher before me has ever been able to get him to hold the pencil correctly and write clearly.)He is very excited when he gets to pick a reward out of the prize area. So, for now, that is what I do. Eventually, the idea is, he won't need that constant reward.

Throughout the day I pull out someone's name from the ticket bucket (they can earn recognition in our school and are given 'tickets' for a school-wide incentive program) when the entire class is working well. It's is a nice reward for working so hard.

How many of us wouldn't like a reward every now and then? That's how I look at it.

You know, we work and we get paid. When kids work, they get grades, but they don't get paid (unless parents work out a system). The kids are just supposed to 'feel good' about their grades. Would we work for just 'feeling good'? We want (and need) to buy things, kids want to buy things too. So, while I can't pay them for their grades, I can at least reward them for their work.

I realize that this is a slightly different topic, but for those parents who pay for good grades, even if the child never gets past the extrinsic motivation, at least he/she earned good grades and has a chance to earn a scholarship (another extrinsic reward) and hopefully completes a degree to enter the work force to earn a decent living (salary, another extrinsic reward!).

[Corinne]

Tracey wrote: "You know, we work and we get paid. When kids work, they get grades, but they don't get paid (unless parents work out a system). The kids are just supposed to 'feel good' about their grades. Would we work for just 'feeling good'?..."

I certainly work for money, but money isn't what motivates me to do my work. If it did, I wouldn't have taken up teaching. I teach because I find it meaningful, rewarding, creative and an endlessly fascinating job.

I want my students to learn to love reading for reading's sake, not to get a good grade or to earn a prize.

That said, I'm not sure that I want to abandon reward systems, even though Kohn argues very powerfully that over the long term they have the opposite effect. I can really relate to your example of the 3rd grader who wouldn't hold his pencil properly.

I guess, i'm just going to be a little more mindful of how I use them, and try to promote the intrinsic value in what we are doing, rather than the rewards and grades.

[Tracey]

Oh, I agree that money is not main motivator, but we all have to agree we wouldn't work just to feel good. There has to be some sort of financial benefit to pay bills, food, and shelter.

I am not big on rewards, I RARELY EVER have candy in my room. But, I have found the kids just a little bit more excited, having a bit more fun, when they get to pick something out of the prize box.

This week I didn't even use the prize box, and, no one said anything! ha! So, it shows me my kids like it, but they aren't relying on prizes to work hard. It is just something fun do.

[Rebecca]

I think they're a poor substitute for intrinsic motivation, and once students are 'hooked' on extrinsic rewards, it's very hard to wean them off and replace that buzz with an inner one.

But I think in schools where rewrads are entrenched, parents can do their bit to 'devalue' or downplay these rewards. You all might be interested in Mindfulness for Children. It's about sitting with disappointment, and vice versa, noticing when something feels good. It can be a bit of a family culture of noticing feelings, good and bad, and being good with either rather than pushing them away or trying to 'fix' the reward-hole when the child doesn't 'win'.