If I received a dollar every time I topped my class , I would probably be a billionaire by now. These days, every parent wants to educate his children so that they can become responsible people in the future. It’s not like in the olden days when our forefathers knew little to nothing about education. The future of our countries and the world is the younger generation and care must be taking in bringing them up. No one wants to raise kids who would grow up to have a negative impact on society because we all want the best for our kids and our countries.
Day in , day out, millions of kids are enrolled in schools across the globe while others are already in the schooling system. Obviously, we wouldn’t expect all these kids to have the same level of intelligence and understanding. There’s always going to be that one kid who’s the smartest and the one who needs some time to grasp things. I believe that sometimes, the problem is not even with the kids but with the teachers and their mode of teaching. When I was in kindergarten through to Junior high, I was always topping my class because my teachers taught well and they knew what they were doing. But when I moved to senior high, things were different. I wasn’t topping my class anymore because I wasn’t even able to follow what the teachers were teaching. They were just there because they had to.
Another scenario is one with my younger sister. When she was enrolled in school , she was very active in crèche and nursery. But when she got to kindergarten her teacher started complaining that she wouldn’t write or even take part in class activities. If the teacher spoke about it she would cry and then sleep. I didn’t believe my sister was a lazy student because anytime she came back from school, she would do her homework and even work on some of her books at home. I knew the teacher wasn’t doing something right. One day, she came back home with a cane mark on her leg. I knew the teacher was beating these kids and that’s why they weren’t interested in class activities anymore. The next day, we went to the school to report the case to the headmaster. The teacher was changed and my sister started doing well in school again because she is a bright student.
Giving students cash reward for academic achievement or brilliance is a big no for me. Imagine handing a student cash price for topping his class in front of all his mates. Obviously, the others would feel a bit bad because they didn’t get such money. But at the end of the day, we know that they all tried their best but as we all know, not everyone can be first in class. This wouldn’t even cause some sort of resentment and competition among the students and trust me, you wouldn’t want that as a teacher.
Every student needs a little push or motivation, especially when it comes to brilliant but needy students. Instead of rewarding them with cash prices which would probably be even embezzled by their guardians, why not have a scholarship fund set up for them which would cover their fees, books and other essential stuff they would need in school. This way, these students won’t feel they lack anything and they would be motivated to do better because most people like the idea of being on ‘scholarships’.
Sometimes, it doesn’t even necessarily have to be only brilliant students getting the scholarship. Those at the bottom also need that kind of motivation because you never know the potential they have. Every kid has a bring future and it’s up to us, those who they look up to , to make them feel they can make it.
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