4 Friday, November 3, 2017 brooklintowncrier.com Pay kids to achieve good grades? Our Brooklin Kids By Leanne Brown It's report card time. Some kids approach this time of year with dread. Others look forward to it. And for a few…it's pay day! That's right. Some parents reward their children for each "A" they bring home with a cash or other incentive. But does paying for grades really help? It's an interesting debate. As a society, we believe in being paid for our work. So if a child's "work" is learning, shouldn't they get paid for performance? Isn't this a value we want our kids to adopt? Many parents think so. According to the American Institute of CPAs, 48% of U.S. parents reward their kids financially for good grades. The average payout for an "A" is $16.60. No performance guarantee Paying kids for grades does work but that "A" grade you paid $20 for doesn't guarantee a similar future performance. Harvard professor Roland Fryer Jr. tested the concept of paying for grades and other desirable behaviour in four urban American school systems with mixed results. "The Hamilton Project: The Power and Pitfalls of Education Incentives" (scholar.harvard.edu) concluded that paying for performance didn't work, unless the students had a clear idea of the need to achieve results. The experiment was more successful in improving test scores by rewarding kids for "inputs" they could control, such as reading books. There is also the opinion that the "A" grade is in itself the reward for work rendered. Why do you need to put a monetary value on it? Kids should want to do well on their own as a result of the effort they put in. Children who are rewarded for good grades can start to feel a payout is something they're entitled to, which robs them of the ability to develop a love of learning and a sense of responsibility for their own education. I found most parenting and finance experts don't recommend paying for grades. Experts agree that if you're doling out bucks for grades, it may be doing more harm than you think. Paying for performance is often seen as focusing on the symptoms rather than the underlying causes of a student's challenges. Reliance on external motivation This practice also undermines a student's work ethic and confidence, they argue, because it relies on external, rather than internal, motivation. Research shows that some well-timed words from a parent or teacher to a student who is making a real effort may be a more reliable way to increase a kid's motivation to excel than a cash incentive. Experts suggest linking good grades to effort. Instead of handing over $20 for an 'A', tie the result to a specific activity the child can repeat. Praise your child's efficient use of her time, her careful work, or how hard she studied. Let them know you are proud and that the "A" is valuable, well worth it in and of itself. For a child who struggled and worked hard to master a difficult subject and gets a "B-", this can be more meaningful than the easy "A" for which he earns money. Do you feel the "B-" is worth recognizing with something special? An article from Scholastic Magazine suggests that using rewards is most effective if it is done spontaneously. "Kids who are aware of grade incentives lose interest in the task twice as fast as those who didn't know a reward was coming," it states. Reminder: Progress reports come home the week of November 13, 2017 WORSHIP DIRECTORY WORSHIP DIRECTORY Burns Presbyterian Church 765 Myrtle Rd West (just 4 minutes north of Brooklin) 10am Worship, Kids Zone Fun & Nursery Care "Discovering God, Sharing God's Love" 905.655.8509 www.Burnschurch.org St. Thomas' Anglican Church 101 Winchester Road East Sunday Services: 8:30 and 10:30 am Sunday School & Nursery Program (10:30am) Wednesday 10:00 a.m. Communion and Healing Service 905-655-3883 www.stthomasbrooklin.ca Brooklin United Church 19 Cassels Rd. E. Sunday Services at 10:30 am Sunday School & Nursery Care www.brooklinunited.ca 905-655-4141 Come catch the Spirit! Renaissance Baptist Church of Brooklin 40 Vipond Road (Just West Of Library) Sunday Worship & Kids Program 10:30 a.m. 905-655-4554 www.brooklinrbc.ca We're here for Brooklin! Community Calendar If you have a community not-for-profit event you would like included in the calendar, please email it to editorofBTC@gmail.com with the subject line "calendar." Priority will be given to Brooklin events. Some editing may occur. Wed., Nov. 15: 7:00 pm- 9:30 pm: Red Tent Circle for Women Only To register or obtain more information, visit: meetup.com/RedTentCircles and look for GTA-Peterborough-and Kawarthas Sat. Nov. 18: 9:00 - 3:00 p.m: St. Leo's Craft / Vendors' Fair St. Leo's Parish Hall, 130 Watford St. (Off Winchester) Over 30 vendors to browse. Free Admission. Takeout food available. Door prizes. Info or table rentals: 905-620-0724 Fri., Nov. 24: 4:00 - 5:00 pm (4th Friday of each month) Teen Leadership Council at Brooklin Library Whitby Library's Brooklin Branch seeks Teen Leadership Council members to share ideas & assist with special events and programs. Grade 9-12 students earn community service hours. Snacks provided. No registration required. For information, email teenservices@whitbylibrary.ca. Mondays: 6:30-7 pm: French Family Storytime: Children and their caregivers can join Madame Sue for weekly French Family Storytime! A half hour of French stories and songs, with a dash of English! Drop in at Central Library's Children's Program Room Tuesdays: 7:25 pm: Brooklin Toastmasters Club Practice public speaking at Brooklin Community Centre & Library. Contact John Johnstone at jajhj@sympatico.ca or phone 905-683-4439 or Patricia Romano at promano257@outlook.com or phone 905-626-7055. 1st & 3rd Tuesdays Community Care Durham (CCD) Basic Foot Care at St. Thomas' Anglican Church. 905-668-6779 Mon.-Fri. CCD delivers hot or frozen meals. To order: Karen Andrews 905-668-6779 The Durham Farm Connections Farming and farm families celebrated their rural roots in Durham Region on October 26 with close to 350 people in attendance at the 4th annual Celebrate Agriculture Gala held at the Scugog Community Centre in Port Perry. The evening recognized three Durham Farm Connections award winners and 133 Canada 150 Farm families. The presentation of Canada Farm Family gate signs and certificates to Durham Region's Canada 150 farm families was a Gala highlight. Recognition was given to a farm family that has been continually farming in Canada since 1867 and are still farming in Durham Region today. Celebrate Agriculture Gala benefits agricultural awareness efforts in Durham Region. Through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers, Durham Farm Connections delivers educational programs to improve the understanding, and awareness of agriculture in Durham Region. Durham Celebrates Farm Families Batty 1857 Bray 1832 Burkholder 1833 Glaspell 1851 Grandy 1823 Guthrie 1818 Jones 1842 Mackey 1798 Middleton 1838 Miller 1839 O'Connor 1832 Osbaldeston 1836 Taylor 1787 VanCamp/Linton 1841 Werry 1845 Brooklin and area farm families and the years they began farming were: