Omo… would financial rewards for academic brilliance be a plus or a minus to the academic world? I’m sure that something like this would have both positives and negatives, but I have to admit that when you look at the big picture, the merits will far outweigh the demerits. In the long run, I believe that rewarding academic brilliance will work in favor of the students.
I know that people are scared that since money is involved, students will be more willing to go above and beyond just to achieve academic success, and they won’t be doing it because they want the degree or they want to be the best. They’ll simply do it because they know that they’ll get paid.
It could cause people to cheat during exams, it could encourage all forms of malpractice. Hell, lecturers might even be lobbied so they can give certain students the best marks so that they get to receive the prize money, after a certain percentage has been shelved off, of course.
But then, let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute. Presently, we don’t have a reward system in place, yet we still have a major problem with malpractice during exams and the other extreme things people are willing to do for marks. It would only get worse once money gets involved. However, I believe that money will also make the system a bit more difficult to beat.
Having monetary rewards will give people more reasons to be serious about their education. Since they know that every mark counts and there is a huge financial difference between being in the first position and the second, everyone will be gunning for that top spot. It would make it a highly competitive area. Such competition when it comes to education is never healthy though, I’ve seen people lose their minds simply because of major exams that are approaching. With money on the line, more people will join this bandwagon.
Monetary rewards will also mean more stringent policies. When you compare the Hive blockchain and Facebook, you see that here on Hive, almost everyone who makes posts can earn lots of money. However, on Facebook, the percentage of people who earn money by posting to those who don’t earn is not that big. There are more people who don’t make money off Facebook than there are those who make it.
I guess that’s why they’re so lax when it comes to the kind of content people put out. You can easily plagiarize content and put it on Facebook unless the owner of the post or someone who recognizes it calls you out or reports you, it’ll remain there. However, Hive is a different ball game. Plagiarism is handled differently and seen to be a very big issue, and I believe it’s because of the money that’s involved.
There are other factors, but I believe I’m speaking for everyone when I say that monetary rewards will make the major stakeholders in the academic world sit up and be more vigilant because they don’t want people who don’t deserve it to take their hard-earned money. Everyone will work extra hard and extra smarter just to emerge at the top.
But then, it might not be sustainable. Hell, even if it were would the authorities keep shelling out the money? We were promised some stipend to support us during our four months of compulsory IT, and till today we’re yet to see it. This is the kind of promise-and-fail behavior we’d have to deal with. The money will be remitted, but somewhere between departure and destination, the money will go missing. And everyone will move on as if nothing is wrong.
Still, I like this idea. It would go a long way for the students who need it. It might be able to help with tuition and the buying of textbooks. Maybe we already have such a system, we just call it a scholarship. After all, there’s a certain level of academic brilliance you have to attain before you can qualify for any scholarship. Then, you have to also remain at that spot to keep the scholarship. So, maybe we do have monetary rewards. I guess we all need more.