Is rewarding kids for good grades bribery or motivation?

This is gonna sound like bragging, but I've always got good grades and never got anything for it. This last term I kinda did better than before and was a bit pissed when my parents were all like, "yes, very good, keep it up".
I see kids all around me get money for their grades. I know this one girl who reportedly gets 30 euroes for every mark over 16 she gets (out of 20, that is).

Am I'm not saying all parents should dish out the cash every term. But you know, a treat for a kid's hard work is just a really nice thing to do and makes them feel special. And yes, it's about motivation. Because most of us wouldn't work if we were doing it just for ourselves.

Anji:

The thing is, if people were actually paid their labour's worth, the working class wold be rich and the upper class would be poor. At least that is the case for Britain, mos certainly. In America it would be similar only a bit more moderated.

The point is that the working class should in theory get more reward out of their work if money was movitation and the upper class majority who only own land and antiquities and inherit stuff would receive for their contribution to society. So money especially as motivation presents an unrealistic portrayal of life and work.

But in Britain, the upper class is practically dead. The working class has been pretty diminished lately, too, so in terms of social mobility, we can't really talk about an 'upper class' or a 'working class' having a place in modern Britain. The majority of Britons are all pretty middle class, more or less.

But it's fair to say that children from higher-income families do better than those from lower-income families, in general. Of course, you will always get super-intelligent state school kids, and you will get posh indepedent schools like Stonyhurst College which refuse to publish their exam results because they're that bad.

And whatever anyone says, I find the link between better results and higher incomes to be quite wrong. Everyone should have equality of opportunity, but sadly, such a thing is hard to come by.

lyrical_mess:

you know what?

I am one hundred percent against all forms of bribery. bullying only exists in the adult world because it exists in school. Same with bribery. And its...incredible...how corrupt the world is today. How corrupt certain governments are.

Imagine: a boy was bribed to do his schoolwork as a child. As he grows up, he learns that if someone gives him material or money to do his work, he will. That boy gets a job in the electricity department. Someone comes and complains that the powerlines are fucked. He doesn't even look at their complaint until they dangle a nice green 500 rupee note in his face. And like a greedy dog, he takes it and then has the powerline fixed. And in addition, if parents get the idea that they can get their children to jump through hoops for "stuff" what's going to stop them from applying the same logic to the rest of the world?

Bribery is bribery and corruption is corruption.

And its wrong.

Like I said, I'm rewarded for grades and I can honestly say that the only circumstance that I would ever help a paying custumor isn't if they dangled extra cash in front of my face. First off, I'm getting paid for the job anyway. If I didn't do my job correctly, I wouldn't be paid. Overall, I'm being paid for the work that I put in, right? That's a reward in itself. It's the same as being rewarded for something done right, if the reward and moral teaching is done correctly as well. I'm putting in work to get the grades I want, therefore I am rewarded in some form. Also, it's not like I'm rewarded every single time I get a passing grade. And, if I am, I don't get $200 or even a few movies. I might get something as small as a picture to hang on my wall to a movie that I've wanted. Children who are given the things they may want for something they've done well aren't always spoiled brats. Even then, I don't go through every class thinking, "I need an A if I want that movie!" I get the grades also because I feel successful, whether I'm "bribed" or not. Eventually, it should get to the point where it isn't all about the gifts and such that you get for being "good." Small children have that point of view at first, but they might grow up to change their minds.

Plus, I don't know anyone who would pay someone servicing their house extra money because they want them to attend to their complaint. If that's the case, I think the smart thing to do would be to find another company.