Your motivation fueld by money: does it work for you?

Let say, your school will give you $50 when you raise your scores by 20%. Would you study hard to earn the reward? How about $110 when you sign up for tutoring sessions in your school? How about you make $8 an hour by attending the after-school math and science tutorial session? Believe it or not, they are true stories according to Education Week's report.

Excerpt:

The program will award 10th and 11th graders who have failed at least one of their state graduation exams $25 if they show a 5 percent increase on the first of their benchmark assessments, which students take throughout the year.

Students are then eligible to earn another $35 if they increase their scores by an additional 15 percent on the next benchmark assessment, and $50 if they raise their scores by another 20 percent after that, bringing their total potential earnings to as much as $110 a year.

The students earn $8 an hour by attending the after-school math and science tutorial sessions for up to four hours a week, and they can earn a bonus—$75 for 8th graders and $125 for 11th graders—if they achieve at least a B average in both their math and science courses and pass the state exams in those subjects.

Before you rush to the reward program, make sure to read this interview with Alfie Kohn who wrote, "Punished by Rewards." Here is why Kohn dislikes the idea of rewarding your good work: "More than 70 studies have found that the more you reward people for doing something, the more they lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward. It's not just that rewards are ineffective over the long haul; it's that they are actively counterproductive."