A Reward System for School

Procrastination.  The very word whose definition is the mantra of students all across the globe.  Teachers and parents so often complain about the time children spend playing games, going online, and hanging out with friends, rather than doing schoolwork or other work.  What the majority of society seems to think is that these sorts of entertainment waste kids' time, and that work will better prepare them for the future.  But I believe that this justification for criticizing the priorities of children is also the justification for why they do it in the first place.

Notice how methods of entertainment offer short term rewards versus the hard working long term, way into the future, rewards.  It's possible that the youth do not have the full capacity to see into the future, and thus, feels it is not worth working towards.

There is a way to combat this I believe.  Incorporate the idea of short term awards into work to give incentive to students to study harder.  If adults are willing to pay real world money for fake, in-game currency, why not do the same for students?

I remember when I was in grade 3, my teacher would give us fake money whenever we did good things, like showing a new student around, or getting an excellent mark on a test.  It worked effectively at giving students the desire to be good.  So why can't we do the same thing in high school?

We don't even have to waste paper on fake money.  The achievement system should work just as well.  Reach a certain goal, earn some points.  Use points to unlock things, like a new pencil or eraser.  Humans work on a reward system.  With this sort of system, it should be much easier for students to work harder.

Sure, when we meet the future, we will see that it doesn't work in the same way, but old habits die hard.  Hopefully, the incentive to study and work hard will carry on through our lives.  But first, we need to integrate it into our harddrives, and this is where the completely meaningless achievement point system comes in.