Cash Compensation for Good Grades in High School

[Anonymous]

At the end of each year, we tally up all our kids’ grades and give them money that varies as a function of grade received. Here’s the mapping we use:

C = $200*(G - 3.0), where G is the weighted grade point score received in a particular class and is C is the cash they receive.

So, if DC gets an A in a regular class, that maps to a 4.0 and is worth $200. An A in an AP class maps to a 5.0 and is worth $400. Anything below a B in a regular class maps to negative dollars and DC owes us money.

My rising senior received straight A’s in 7 classes, all AP and honors. We paid him something like $2,650 for good grades in his Junior year. Is this excessive, normal, or skimpy?

[Anonymous]

Why are you doing that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are you doing that?

To quantify and reinforce the importance of working hard in school.

[Anonymous]

Ugh OP. Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of each year, we tally up all our kids’ grades and give them money that varies as a function of grade received. Here’s the mapping we use:

C = $200*(G - 3.0), where G is the weighted grade point score received in a particular class and is C is the cash they receive.

So, if DC gets an A in a regular class, that maps to a 4.0 and is worth $200. An A in an AP class maps to a 5.0 and is worth $400. Anything below a B in a regular class maps to negative dollars and DC owes us money.

My rising senior received straight A’s in 7 classes, all AP and honors. We paid him something like $2,650 for good grades in his Junior year. Is this excessive, normal, or skimpy?

You're obviously URM and your kid is hopelessly spoiled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of each year, we tally up all our kids’ grades and give them money that varies as a function of grade received. Here’s the mapping we use:

C = $200*(G - 3.0), where G is the weighted grade point score received in a particular class and is C is the cash they receive.

So, if DC gets an A in a regular class, that maps to a 4.0 and is worth $200. An A in an AP class maps to a 5.0 and is worth $400. Anything below a B in a regular class maps to negative dollars and DC owes us money.

My rising senior received straight A’s in 7 classes, all AP and honors. We paid him something like $2,650 for good grades in his Junior year. Is this excessive, normal, or skimpy?

Excessive! My kids get a treat when they perform well / put in great effort not a lump sum of cash.

[Anonymous]

^sorry, UMC, not URM.

Stupid autocorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you doing that?

To quantify and reinforce the importance of working hard in school.

If your kid is old enough to take AP classes and still doesn't understand the importance of working hard, you have a bigger problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you doing that?

To quantify and reinforce the importance of working hard in school.

Why not just teach them intrinsic motivation? I never got below a B+ in any class (and can count on 1 hand the number of B+’s I received). My parents never once paid me for good grades.

[Anonymous]

OP is an obvious troll.

[Anonymous]

Troll alert. What would this matter to us? Do you, boo.

[Anonymous]

I've taught my high stats kid not to accept bribes. So far, so good.

[Anonymous]

This can backfire. Some kids will choose classes to maximize money received. So, kid will sign up for AP Environmental Science, which is an AP so will net more money with your system, and avoid AP Physics C (or whatever it's called now) because they are less likely to ace it. Other kids will cheat . Yes, some kids cheat anyway, but if being honest will cost them a lot of money, you're incentivizing it, IMO.

If you have more than one kid, it becomes more complex. My parents paid us a modest amount of money for a "good" report card. My sibling was several years ahead of me in school. Sib got the same amount of money for worse grades. I just accepted that was because higher grade was tougher than mine. It took a few years before I realized it was really because my sib struggled in school and I excelled, so I had to get better grades than sib did because a "good" report card for me was different than a "good" report card for sib.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the end of each year, we tally up all our kids’ grades and give them money that varies as a function of grade received. Here’s the mapping we use:

C = $200*(G - 3.0), where G is the weighted grade point score received in a particular class and is C is the cash they receive.

So, if DC gets an A in a regular class, that maps to a 4.0 and is worth $200. An A in an AP class maps to a 5.0 and is worth $400. Anything below a B in a regular class maps to negative dollars and DC owes us money.

My rising senior received straight A’s in 7 classes, all AP and honors. We paid him something like $2,650 for good grades in his Junior year. Is this excessive, normal, or skimpy?

Excessive and it will backfire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've taught my high stats kid not to accept bribes. So far, so good.

Probably this will work until they have to get real jobs and decide to decline paychecks, bonuses, and pay raises because you’ve taught them that receiving compensation that increases with the quality of work products is either unimportant or underhanded.