Do you think that the rewards system in schools are beneficial?

My daughters class have star of the week. I don’t think they realise that all 30 kids will get this award twice throughout the school year. Yes and no. My son is autistic and he had a star chart which worked up to a point until his placement failed and then it became a downward spiral and the chart a bit pointless.

It depends on the system. If my daughter reads her reading book at least 3 times at home that week she gets a star in her reading record and when she’s filled it up she gets a hot chocolate with all the trimmings on a Friday afternoon at school. Now that works, there’s nothing like a bit of sugar to bribe 5 year olds 😂

As a teacher I don’t like them (if they’re focused on extrinsic rewards). Honestly, a lot of what we reward in our public school system in the US is really compliance - do you raise your hand and wait to speak, follow directions the first time, etc. and so much of that is based on a child’s temperament. There is also the shame factor that goes along with reward systems in many cases that I don’t think is helpful. Things that build class community are better, or things focusing on teamwork or intangible rewards.

It’s not ideal and it’s hard to keep up with, but there are certain ways it works well, like if we all do (whatever skill we’re working on) we put a marble in the class jar and when it’s full we have a popsicle party. Or if one child is really struggling, they can have an individual star chart. In my experience, these two ways are useful and other forms of rewards become petty.

Admittedly I don’t have school age kids. But kids seem to get certificates for everything these days- it kind of trivialises actual achievement. It’s not a reflection of what would happen in the real world and I believe it can actually set them up for disappointment. In my workplace I see a massive difference in the attitudes of younger staff and I can’t help wonder if this is a reflection of how they’ve been taught. They can’t seem to grasp constructive criticism because they haven’t had to experience it. In the real world there are not cheerleaders to praise you for mediocrity.

I think it is fine. I taught for several years and Sometimes it is the only thing that works 🤷🏻‍♀️ In a perfect world, we would have all the time for relationship building and community and social skills. And teaching intrinsic motivation. But that is not reality. Even in kindergarten. With the system the way it is now, sometimes rewards are the best tool. And parents play a big role in this too. They have to be modeling and teaching at home. And a lot of the time, it is not happening

If teachers are using if correctly it can be effective but I’ve seen it be used before where the so called ‘naughty’ kids were getting rewarded when they do the smallest good thing when children who are always well behaved get overlooked.

As a former 3rd grade teacher I hated it because it excludes other kids. I understand maybe at a middle school or high school level but for elementary it’s really detrimental. I saw kids start calling themselves stupid and their self esteem lower and often the rewards were by admin (often times for a certain test score not for their grades or other accomplishments) not by me so I had no say and had to deal with the crying kids who didn’t get anything. As for rewards by the teacher it’s hard with such low pay and low budget to be able to give rewards. When I was in middle school and high school we got honor roll breakfasts which encouraged wanting to get better grades and we also had reading points where the more you read the more points you got which you can use to get stuff at the book fair which is also awesome because it encouraged reading.

My son responds very very well to rewarding and praise, he also thrives with strict routine and boundaries. I can’t say if the reward thing will be beneficial in the long run; but right now it’s what works well for him and his teacher

They’re working well for both of my kids 🤷🏼‍♀️

Some of them are ridiculous. For example; kids get more rewarded for being present than for good grades and most of the time the kids have no say in their attendance cuz it's the parents that send them. My daughter asked me why she hasn't been the "distinguished scholar" (super star) of her class if she's doing sooo much better and i believe she's earned it but it's every 6 weeks so that makes only 6 kids that get the opportunity and leaves al the rest out so pretty unfair imo. A honor roll just get a free food ticket to somewhere rather than getting celebrated at school for their actual effort. Idk

@Maleni that’s so sad they don’t actually get honor roll celebrated at school. When I was in school they gave us an awesome honor roll breakfasts and the principal would eat with us which was exciting. The breakfast would be stuff that isn’t typically served by the school. A meal ticket is so lazy!

@Megan it does suck because that's the actual kid's effort but school districts care more about attendance because that's where their money comes from so they celebrate perfect attendance more than honor students. That's why when my kids get sad cuz they didn't receive a trophy for it i tell them "that trophy is something that was earned for them not by them"

It depends on the system and from my experience as a previous teacher the main bit is to make it equitable among all students. One year I had a ‘trouble kid’ in my class who saw the school’s behavior specialist. He had a little chart that he brought around to all his classes and if he met his goals we would check it off, if not we’d leave notes. If he did well he got a reward such as a food treat or little toy or extra recess. You better bet the other kids saw this and started acting up so they could ‘get a behavior chart too’. I think celebrating successes in an equitable way and rewarding that (like a points system for the whole class where they can buy stuff with their points, or a class goal that leads to a full class reward like pajama day) can be really beneficial.