Can students be paid to excel

Nicholas Gianakoulias Mrs. Sherwood English Essay Can Students Be Paid To Excel? Students that are in the fourth grade normally take standardize testing or will end up taking standardize test when they get older, but what do students get out of taking these test? A school in the lower east side of Manhattan gives students an opportunity to make a small fortune for themselves depending on how well they do on the standardize test. Schools all throughout the country gives students these opportunities, but do the students take full advantage of it?

The fourth grade class in Manhattan can make up to $50 for acing the standardize test.

The students were unaware that their teacher can also earn financial money depending on how good the students do. If a majority of the students do well on the tests then the teacher is pleased and gets credit for it. School Districts nationwide have seized on the idea that a key to improving schools is to pay for performance, weather through bonuses for teachers and principals, or rewards like cash prizes for students. There are a lot of benefits if school districts all decide to pay the students in one way or another.

It will encourage them to be successful and give them goals that the students could easily reach. If they test students each year then they can save up all the money that they earn for college or even use the money to invest in some sort of education.

College isn’t for everybody though, not all schoolchildren have the intellectual capacity to reach “ basic achievement” levels and the same thing applies at the college level. It is said that the number of Americans with the brains to master the most challenging college classes is closer to 15 percent than to 45 according to Christopher Caldwell.

Christopher Caldwell also states that a college degree shows not that the student has learned something but rather that they are the type of person who can learn something. He says that college is just the beginning stage of some type of success. Meaning that if students can get through college and get a degree, they have a better chance of being successful then people who decide not to go to college.

He’s not saying that if people decide not to attend college they will be unsuccessful. He believes that the chances are higher if they finish through college.

College is important but it’s also extremely hard to come up with the money to afford it. College is from anywhere to $180, 000 plus. Luckily they have all sorts of scholarships that students can apply for or even get, but sometimes those scholarships aren’t going to cut it financially but that’s when the standardize testing could be affective. If the school districts allow kids to earn money based off those standardize test then that’s just more money students can save up for their college education.

Works Cited Page Christopher Caldwell: What a College Education Buys p. 213- 215. Jennifer Medina: Can Student Be Paid to Excel? p. 253-258