I totally agree that we should find better ways, but looking at the wretched state of education in this country I’m not optimistic. I’m suspecting that this was the only consistent way that they could show the kids that learning is valued, sad as that would be. And if I’m wrong, they have buggered it up.

And you’re right, it’s likely that the learning that’s being valued isn’t really valuable. No Child Left Untested…

While tangible rewards may have a longterm effect, wouldn’t you agree that achievement and recognition far outweigh their impact? Schools should experiment with the wholesome techniques exhaustively before before bribing children to pass tests.

Or course, there’s another issue to consider. Since real life doesn’t have standards tests, what are schools preparing students for?

Not that I’m advocating a reward system like this, it’s a pretty shoddy way of showing that the culture really does value learning. However, when you don’t have parents modeling it and it’s not seen in the community, you may need an extrinsic system.