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I don't know what that story is supposed to illustrate. Daddy had money and he bribed his daughter. And?
Right not my niece is in college and she has roommates who are from massively wealthy Middle Eastern families. They've traveled on private planes all their lives. (Mostly for security reasons apparently.) But from what I'm hearing they are also incredibly motivated. Even though they've had lives you and I can only imagine they are also expected by their families to learn and achieve. Daddy Sheikh is NOT bribing them to get good grades. Working hard for good grades is just assumed because that's why he's paying for them to be in an elite school. They've been raised with that ethic.
Which, has been a bit of a surprise to me. I had some preconceived notions about them that were totally wrong. Baksheesh (bribery) is a way of life in that part of the world but, lol, not where education is concerned. Not in those particular families. I find that admirable. And I have a LOT more respect for Daddy Sheikh who raised his daughters with the intrinsic desire to learn than Daddy Money Bags who has to bribe his daughter to learn.
Just that bribery works when kids can't see the value of an education at the moment.
I find that my students who have well off parents actually have an easier time seeing the value of an education because they want what their parents have and see that it took an education to get their parents there. However, I do think bribery works when kids can't see the value of an education. I wish the government would do something like make deposits to a college savings account based on grades. Give kids some incentive to work harder. As things are now, they can bust their butts and still not do well in the scholarship/grant department. Money in the bank towards college would also encourage parents to keep up on what their kids are doing. If kids know they're working towards something, they'll be more likely to work.
Case in point, my dd. She's got it in her head that grades don't matter because she's going to community college (mainly because her ACT score was too low but it's a cost save for us too) so guess where her grades are? They're not bad but they're not where they should be. She figures she's not getting scholarships anyway so why worry about it. If she got something towards college for, say, getting B's or better, she'd be more inclined to get a B or better. She just sees it as a lost cause.
Some are like that just like some A students work for their grade, however, I find that the typical B or C student works harder than they typical A student. There is no one size fits all. I'm just going with the odds here. In my experience, both as a teacher and as a student, there's a better shot a B or C student (more likely the B student) is a hard worker.
I am NOT assuming that ALL students are like this. Just stating the odds. All things being equal, I'd choose a B student or even a C student over an A student if I were hiring for a job. My experience, as an engineer, backs this up. It's not the A students who tend to excel in the work force. The ones who just knew how to play the game well to get A's often struggle with the transition to the real world.
IDK if I agree. I have 3 kids. 2 are A students, 1 is a B student. My A students work much harder than their brother. My middle son is just satisfied to get a B. If can get a B without studying he will. My other boys are just not satisfied with a B if they can get an A. I think it is more about their personalities than anything else.
THAT is the fault of society. Society says a C is a bad grade. I don't.
I dunno...my old economics professor might disagree with you A few days after his midterm, he caught me in the bathroom - I'm standing at the urinal disposing of a few sodas and he walks in after a class. Without missing a beat, said professor says "REBL! WHEN'S YOUR LAST CLASS END!?". I answered, 0.0825 seconds after Junior retreats into his bunker, simply refusing to squeeze another drop after I've damn near soiled my pants. "BE IN MY OFFICE AS SOON AS YOU WALK OUT OF THAT CLASS!" My response was "Sir, YES SIR!". Now, said professor was a retired Major in the USMC, I have never served. He had a very imposing demeanor. I walked into his class thinking I'd completely failed the midterm and was about to get the chewing out of my life - I was right on one of those. I got a C, and got an a**-ripping like you'd never believe. The gist of it was, he knew I was better than what I had done, and wanted a good and solid accounting for it.
Fast forward to the end of the semester, after the final. Once again, I'm disposing of a few sodas, and in he walks. This time in a boot, since he'd had an accident while skiing. Once again, he barks my name and asks if I'm done for the day. And once again, Junior has retreated into his bunker, leaving me high and and without a dry bladder as I've, you guessed it, once again almost soiled myself. I answer that I was indeed done for the day, and followed him to his office thinking my world was about to end. I pulled a B on his final. And, once again, got a lecture and had to account for why I didn't pull an A.
He is one of the few professors I had that I will never forget. He could see those who would do well, and simply ignored and left to sink those who he knew didn't care and were just wasting their tuition. In the 5 semesters I was at that school, he was never once wrong on this fact. Those of us who had been taught by him had the ultimate respect for him, and quite often used him as a sounding board. Those who couldn't hack his class inevitably had problems in other classes. He loved what he did, and passed that on to his students. I hate math with an unholy, satanic passion, but let me tell you I loved his economics class.
The gist of it was, he knew I was better than what I had done, and wanted a good and solid accounting for it.
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This post made my day!
Thanks for posting that story. Teachers like that should be cherished. (Though that idea would probably make him nauseous.) I'm glad you appreciated him.
Thanks for posting that story. Teachers like that should be cherished. (Though that idea would probably make him nauseous.) I'm glad you appreciated him.
I have a few of these. Unfortunetly, I also have stories of bad professors from college too. I went to two, Devry and ITT. I didn't do well at Devry at all - I did ok in my gen-ed classes (economics, critical thinking, math, etc), but my core classes weren't so successful. The campus I went to was brand new, they didn't have enough classes to cover the student load and the teachers for the core tech classes were...lackluster. Not to say they were bad, but they were straight out of industry and not much experience teaching.
One teacher, my first semester, didn't teach at all. He kind of just rambled. A month or so in, he was deported. The teacher that came in to replace him was excellent, but was left to clean up the mess.
A teacher I had through 3 semesters knew what he was doing, but couldn't teach to save his life. He refused to use the book he assigned, teaching instead from the whiteboard. If you didn't take word for word notes, you failed the exam. Even some of us that did failed. He did tell me, to his credit, to drop the class after I failed the midterm. I left Devry with a 1.8 GPA - not a high point. I transferred to ITT, and graduated with I think a 2.9 or 3.0, I don't remember which. I had a 3.6 my first few semesters, but they were easy. I did far better in my core classes with teachers that knew what they were doing, but had also been teaching for a number of years. I have some good stories from there too.
I don't know what that story is supposed to illustrate. Daddy had money and he bribed his daughter. And?
Right not my niece is in college and she has roommates who are from massively wealthy Middle Eastern families. They've traveled on private planes all their lives. (Mostly for security reasons apparently.) But from what I'm hearing they are also incredibly motivated. Even though they've had lives you and I can only imagine they are also expected by their families to learn and achieve. Daddy Sheikh is NOT bribing them to get good grades. Working hard for good grades is just assumed because that's why he's paying for them to be in an elite school. They've been raised with that ethic.
Which, has been a bit of a surprise to me. I had some preconceived notions about them that were totally wrong. Baksheesh (bribery) is a way of life in that part of the world but, lol, not where education is concerned. Not in those particular families. I find that admirable. And I have a LOT more respect for Daddy Sheikh who raised his daughters with the intrinsic desire to learn than Daddy Money Bags who has to bribe his daughter to learn.
There's still bribery. It's still carrot and stick. It does not have to be a material award. The reward could be getting your parents' approval or family honor. It could be not disgracing your family or disappointing your parents. It's cultural. America is materialistic so sometimes bribes are in the form of a materialistic reward.
There's still bribery. It's still carrot and stick. It does not have to be a material award. The reward could be getting your parents' approval or family honor. It could be not disgracing your family or disappointing your parents. It's cultural. America is materialistic so sometimes bribes are in the form of a materialistic reward.
Actually it's a group of young women from the Middle East who want an education so they can better the plight of women in their country. And change the world.
There's still bribery. It's still carrot and stick. It does not have to be a material award. The reward could be getting your parents' approval or family honor. It could be not disgracing your family or disappointing your parents. It's cultural. America is materialistic so sometimes bribes are in the form of a materialistic reward.
Who is better off the child who doesn't get an eduation or the child who only gets one because they were bribed to get one?
I agree on parental approval and family honor being like bribes. These are not intrinsic motivations to learn.
As a parent, IMO, you do what you have to. Yes, we prefer intrinsic motivation but if it's not there, then bribe them. You do what you have to.
Last edited by toobusytoday; 07-15-2012 at 05:44 AM..
As a parent, IMO, you do what you have to. Yes, we prefer intrinsic motivation but if it's not there, then bribe them. You do what you have to.
Naturally. Today, everything is instant gratification. We have to show it's relevant. Education has to be entertaining and fun. Well, sometimes it is and teachers should incorporate that. But sometimes, it's just tedious and necessary. When I was in elementary school, there were a zillion other things I would rather be doing than writing my spelling words five times each and then making up a sentence with each one. Boring, boring, boring. At seven years of age, I didn't see any relevance to it at all. But if I failed that spelling test on Friday, i would catch it from my mother and if I should happen to get a hundred, my mother would hang it up and show it off to my father. And that gold star from my teacher made me feel pretty good too. That's why I studied for the test. Did I really care if I could spell those words? Nope. And if I got any words wrong on Friday's spelling test, I had to write them down five times each again for homework. I resented it but I did it and I did learn to spell. No inventive spelling or spell check at that time and most people of my generation are better spellers than today's students.
Last edited by toobusytoday; 07-15-2012 at 05:45 AM..
Naturally. Today, everything is instant gratification. We have to show it's relevant. Education has to be entertaining and fun. Well, sometimes it is and teachers should incorporate that. But sometimes, it's just tedious and necessary. When I was in elementary school, there were a zillion other things I would rather be doing than writing my spelling words five times each and then making up a sentence with each one. Boring, boring, boring. At seven years of age, I didn't see any relevance to it at all. But if I failed that spelling test on Friday, i would catch it from my mother and if I should happen to get a hundred, my mother would hang it up and show it off to my father. And that gold star from my teacher made me feel pretty good too. That's why I studied for the test. Did I really care if I could spell those words? Nope. And if I got any words wrong on Friday's spelling test, I had to write them down five times each again for homework. I resented it but I did it and I did learn to spell. No inventive spelling or spell check at that time and most people of my generation are better spellers than today's students.
Yup..I came from that same generation. A gold star and 100 was enough to burst through the door waving it at my mother.
Today..I see teachers handing out iTunes cards. Schools giving away xBox or PS3 for perfect attendance.
I've read of high schools giving away new cars to seniors.
That "carrot" has gotten mighty expensive over the years.
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A few days after his midterm, he caught me in the bathroom - I'm standing at the urinal disposing of a few sodas and he walks in after a class. Without missing a beat, said professor says "REBL! WHEN'S YOUR LAST CLASS END!?". I answered, 0.0825 seconds after Junior retreats into his bunker, simply refusing to squeeze another drop after I've damn near soiled my pants. "BE IN MY OFFICE AS SOON AS YOU WALK OUT OF THAT CLASS!" My response was "Sir, YES SIR!". Now, said professor was a retired Major in the USMC, I have never served. He had a very imposing demeanor. I walked into his class thinking I'd completely failed the midterm and was about to get the chewing out of my life - I was right on one of those. I got a C, and got an a**-ripping like you'd never believe. The gist of it was, he knew I was better than what I had done, and wanted a good and solid accounting for it. 
