Students have long griped, usually around finals time, that their teachers, schools and parents should compensate them for getting high marks. Before college, some lucky students could exact extra TV time, candy or some after school privileges. College students today are doing even better, collecting cold, hard cash for their efforts.
Since its inception in November, GradeFund.com has been offering its users the opportunity to get sponsored academically. Upon registration, a user can upload his or her transcript and create an academic profile. The student can then send sponsorship requests to friends and relatives, who pledge to donate a certain amount of money if the student meets given academic qualifications. When the student finishes the term or semester, GradeFund bills the contributors and sends the student a check for the amount he or she earned. Certain students with exceptional academic records may qualify for cooperate sponsorship, under which they receive payments from corporate donors.
While most students certainly won't object to being paid for work they do anyway, there are many problems and ethical dilemmas inherent in such a proposition. Broadly, it seems disappointing that the promise of an education alone no longer motivates students to perform well in their classes. The need to additionally compensate students seems to indicate these students no longer value education as something inherently valuable.
The premise of GradeFund also further emphasizes the achievement of a somewhat arbitrary grade over actual learning. In a culture with arguably runaway grade inflation, more emphasis on achieving the grade could drive students to further badger professors or breech academic integrity standards, denigrating the hard work of others.
Some defend GradeFund as a viable scholarship choice to students in need of funding. While the system does encourage performance, it's questionable whether the relatively paltry amounts distributed will make any significant dent in the skyrocketing costs of university education.
Regardless of GradeFund's possible effectiveness, there are some interesting similarities in the approach to the new pilot program Study Bucks in South side dorms. AU will soon be effectively paying students to study; Housing and Dining, using student money, has offered prizes to be claimed at raffles during midterms and finals. We should ask the same questions of the Study Bucks system as we do of GradeFund. Why do students need an incentive - monetary or otherwise - to do what they came here to do?
