Should cash be rewarded for academic brilliance?
A food for thought...
The idea of whether cash rewards should be given to students for academic brilliance had been a rising and contentious issue all around, even among education scholars and the likes while some are in support and others are against it due to its consequences and the devalue it brings to education.
Well in my opinion, even though it has its disadvantages which I am still going to state, I am of opinion that if I were to choose between “giving cash reward to cash for academic brilliance” and “and not giving cash for academic brilliance” then I'll be in full support of giving cash reward, and here are some reasons.
Giving cash reward serves as a motivation for students to strive for academic excellence. We are in a world where life success is measured by financial success, given cash reward as academic excellence prize can go a long way and even make such students buckle up and aim higher. It can also help boost student confidence and self esteem in the society.
Furthermore, there are student who hailed from a poor or low-income background, who might not have resources compared to their peers. Providing an avenue for cash reward can motivate such students to become even more dedicated to their studies instead of finding a part-job which may eventually affect their studies, and eventually offset the economic challenges faced by such students and give an equal opportunity to succeed as their mate who are well fed from home.
However, there are opinions against offering cash rewards to brilliant students, which is that it can create an outsourced, or lemme say an extrinsic motivation in which means students will only be driven for the monetary prize rather than the desire to learn. This can alternatively makes to student to go a long way to get good grades which includes bribery, sleeping with lectures, some might even use vodoo just to come out in flying colors rather than trying to gain knowledge.
Another concern is that there can be a withdrawal in academic engagement and motivation if the monetary incentives which were previously included were removed, it will eventually undermine the intrinsic value of education. Imagine students being paid for their academic performance, there will only be transactional relationship between student and schools not academic transaction anymore.
Nevertheless, not every student can get the cash reward because it can only be for the best student. In such case, it's advisable to give cash reward for academic brilliance. Meanwhile this should be reasonable amount that could go a long way not just any token. In Africa, this prize of a thing hads become so irrelevant that schools are giving chicken, a tuber if yam, some a dollar, plate and all other unreasonable and ridiculous monetary gifts as prize which is not supposed to be.
Additionally, schools can also provide resources and support to help students develop a comfortable learning such as paying for their next semester or session tution fee instead of giving them cash. There are lot of ways a student can be monetarily rewarded for academic brilliance without giving them cash, these methods should be adopted to keep the students safe from being robbed.
In conclusion, cash reward for academic brilliance is quite encouraging to students and adviceable to schools, but priority should not be misplaced. Schools also need to focus on creating a learning environment that foster academic performance of every child. By doing this, we can help students learn faster and create a true and genuine love for learning not just focused on how to get the prize.
