By Michelle Hu
<[email protected]> 

When I was in fourth grade at Towne Meadow Elementary, we had periodical auctions, using fake money to pay for real toys and games. We earned money through being good citizens and earning exemplary grades, and now, one man is trying to implement this reward system with real money.

In the April 8, 2010 issue of Time magazine, the cover article presented an idea researched by Harvard economist Roland Fryer on whether or not monetary rewards provide an incentive for children to perform better in school. It cost $6.3 million and tested 18,000 kids in four cities, searching for a solution to a decades-old problem: how to solidly raise performance levels of students in inner-city schools.

Some of the cities showed little results, almost as if the program were not in place at all; one showed significant promise. According to the report, the students’ test scores were like results of an extra three months learning the curriculum, but accomplished through a monetary incentive system.

To some opponents, the study has flashed money in front of children’s face; their belief is that money has no place in a classroom.

But let’s get real here. Why does any adult or teenager our age go out and work instead of relaxing at home? Why do some of us bother to pay thousands of dollars for continuing education instead of finding a job right out of high school? It’s simple: the real world bribes us with money. From a young age, teachers and counselors (especially in Carmel) teach us that a college degree of any kind will result in higher salaries in the future.

According to a Collegeboard report from 2007, the difference between a high school graduate and a dropout each year amounts to over $8,000. The median salary of someone with a PhD compared to a dropout is 10 times that: almost $80,000.

Granted, to earn a PhD requires countless hours of extra work and thousands of dollars in tuition, but many of us are taught early in life that bigger payoffs require bigger initial risks and investments. With children who live for immediate gratification, that’s extremely difficult to teach.

For many households in inner-city schools, there aren’t teachers who are willing to spend their own money to buy these rewards or parents who teach their children the values of higher education. The truth is, effectively educating children is impossible without parental involvement, and even then, it’s not a guaranteed success. But this study could very well hold the key in some situations.

Don’t get too excited though. Even if this idea proves to be successful, it is unlikely that a school like Carmel would ever implement it. The idea is that these incentives will teach young children to work hard for a goal, and provides the boost that many do not receive from their parents.

And even if some may view his project and work as irresponsible, Fryer’s doing a much better job in his research than most politicians these days.