It really sounds good at first, and indeed may result in better school performance, as measured by grades. But the end goal should be that children are motivated to learn and challenge themselves. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but significant research (we're talking about empirical studies here) has shown that when you get children to do what you want by using rewards and/or punishment (including money, grades, timeout, etc.), they will be less motivated and less successful as adults (by almost any definition of "success").
I learned this from this guy: http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php. His books, particularly the more technical ones, describe numerous scientific studies.
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It really sounds good at first, and indeed may result in better school performance, as measured by grades. But the end goal should be that children are motivated to learn and challenge themselves. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but significant research (we're talking about empirical studies here) has shown that when you get children to do what you want by using rewards and/or punishment (including money, grades, timeout, etc.), they will be less motivated and less successful as adults (by almost any definition of "success"). I learned this from this guy: http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php. His books, particularly the more technical ones, describe numerous scientific studies.