Bargain Counter Goodness Bad Policy

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jul 23, 1914

Bargain Counter Goodness Bad Policy

The mother says, “Helen, if you will stop teasing, I will give you a cooky.” Of course Helen will stop teasing; but what will happen when the cooky is eaten? and what is happening all the time to Helen’s character? Such a custom can be only pernicious in its effect upon the child.

Another mother says, “George, I will give you a book if you will be a good boy till I come back.”

Are these good motives to place before these children? Mr. Baldwin, in his “School Management,” says: “Motives are inducements to act. There are high motives and low motives. Parents need to study carefully the motives they set before their children. What motives help, and do not hurt? What motives hurt, and do not help?”

Helen should be taught, without any material reward, not to tease, and George should do right for its own sake. Right doing brings its own reward. The following article, quoted from a daily paper, is credited to the author of “Your Child Today and Tomorrow:” —

“Would you pay your child ten cents a week as a reward for doing his school lessons regularly and neatly?”

“This question came up at a meeting of mothers recently, when one of the mothers told her experience with her eleven-year-old son. The boy was doing very good work in school, but the teacher complained that his home studies were not as carefully and as regularly prepared as they should have been. The mother spoke to the boy; he claimed that he had no time to do what the teacher required of him. After school he had to practice his music for an hour, and he had to play; and he wanted to read. He was very fond of reading, and read a great deal that the school had nothing to do with.

“If I give you ten cents a week,” she had asked him, “will you do your lessons every day?”

“Goody!” the boy had exclaimed; and he was true to his word. In a short time he was at the head of his class, and no one complained.

“A number of the mothers present were delighted with this easy way of getting big results.

“But after a little discussion, we all had grave doubts as to whether the results were really as big as they looked, or whether the price was really as low as it looked.

“Buying Up a Child”

“The first objection that occurs to the mother’s plan of buying the child’s attention to his required work is that of motive. It is often necessary to present to the child a promise of reward for doing something. The first consideration then should be to make the reward in keeping with the character of the task and at the same time of a kind that raises the child’s outlook up to the highest level that he is capable of reaching. . . .

“The Wrong Reward”

“When it comes to doing school work, it may be supposed that the child is capable of appreciating the value of what he is doing. He certainly should not be led to suppose that he is studying for the benefit of his parents or his teacher. The reward for good work ought to be in some way connected with the results of the work, or with the satisfaction of achievement, or with the pleasure of the work itself. When it is necessary to offer a boy or girl money or candy for doing the work required by the school, there is something wrong either with the school or with the home, or possibly with both.

“In the particular case discussed, the boy was bright enough, for the teacher was entirely satisfied with everything except his failure to do the home work regularly and carefully. He was able to get a ‘passing’ mark even without giving home time to his school work. Under the circumstances it would seem that a boy like this could certainly be reached on a higher plane than that of ten cents a week. He could be reached by an appeal to his instinct of workmanship, to the sense for completeness or wholeness in a day’s work. Or he might have been reached by an appeal to his ambition to excel his past records, to show his ability to keep up a high standard; or even by an appeal to the desire for high marks or the approval of the school mentor, his teacher. It might have saved something of the dignity of the work if the reward had been made more remote; for example, the reward in the form of some much-desired object could have been delayed to the end of the term.

“Bribes Useless”

“To pay cash for doing that which a child should learn to do as a matter of course is an almost certain way of debasing his standard of values. A child should learn that some things are done for money or other material reward; but that there are other things whose doing must bring their own rewards, either at once or at some later time. It were

better that some things be not done at all than that the child should acquire the bargaining attitude toward them.

“Here was a boy who claimed he had no time to do what was required of him; and apparently he made out a good argument. However, he was able to find time. Where did this time come from? He had to keep up his music practice, and he would not reduce his reading time. As a result of this bargain, he cut down his outdoor play. Was that worth doing?

“Rewards, like punishments, must do more than accomplish an immediate purpose. We must look ahead to see the effects of our rewards and punishments upon the child’s character, and not merely count for the day’s convenience.”