No, I got good grades anyway, so my parents never motivated me with anything.

My parents couldn't afford to even buy Christmas presents. Money for good grades was unheard of.

Yea I never got money for good grades...

from my parents yes- i mean not extravagent amounts but a small prize!

My mom didn't have money to bribe me. And I had my own motivation to do well. Maybe these kids need real people from the community or from similar circumstances to come in and tell the benefits of doing well. Mentors?

No, absolutely not. My parents expected good grades from me, and grounded me when I got bad ones.

I was studious, earning highest grades and honors throughout the duration of education. Academic zeal was a natural facet of my personality -- fortunate, because I never received a dime for those grades.

If I'd been anything other than inwardly motivated, I don't imagine I'd have fared as well.

My mom gave it a try and I was happy to make some dough out of my report card , then some time later, all of a sudden, she decided I should realize the true importance of good grades and education, and she stopped paying me! I was devastated. Now of course, I understand her point

I was also expected to get good grades and while my parents didn't shower me with monetary presents, I did usually get what I wanted in return. However, part of what kept me in line was my mom's strictness and her ability to instill fear in both my brother and me. She's since relaxed though!

Never. Good grades were expected.

Nope. Though of course good grades gave me and my sisters leverage whenever we asked our parents to buy something rather expensive.

My grandmother barely noticed what my grades were. She would always say good job but that was about it.

Nothing! No money, no little gifts- like most people say here it was expected to have good grades. . . but before grad school they made the down payment on my car so that makes up for all the years of no rewards and no graduation gifts- so I'm okay with it now.

never. i was self motivated.

They never gave me money but they would buy me stuff that I wanted or take me out to eat. But, I would always get money from my grandparents though. $20 for each A!

Sadly yes, but it didn't motivate me, it was just a bonus. I only got money if I had As though - nothing below an A.

I was self-motivated and didn't need to be bribed to excel in school.

No motivation with money. I have to agree with Estelle_ --with my growing up situation.

But, the crackhead on the corner and some other neighborhood people besides my family tell me to do well and make sure I finish.

No, good grades were just expected.

same as bigestivediscuit -- my parents offered something in elementary or middle school - like $5 or $10 per A, but it didn't motivate me to work any harder. I just never had the drive to be at the top of the class, I figured if I could have lots of fun and make B's, why stay home and study all the time to make A's. I ashamed of that attitude now that I am older. But at the time, no measly bribe was going to help!

(oops, meant "I'M ashamed" )

I wanted to get into a good school and was mostly friends with all the nerdy types anyway

**Sigh** One of the disadvantages of being a self-motivated kid who always got good grades - I never got to cash out on them. But I do remember the Pizza Hut Book It program, where I got free pizza after reading a certain number of books. I loved it!

No I never got money for good grades; I don’t think anyone really cared either as long as I was going to school that was good enough. Nevertheless, I did my thing and 2 years in under grad I met my now husband who was a star athlete and a wiz (rare combination). He competed with me to see how could make the dean's list or have a higher G.P.A. Thanks to those little rounds of competition I was able to goon to grad school with honors Yeah . . . for the husband.

I never got rewarded with money when I was a kid, my parents always said, just do your best and thats enough for us. That motivated me enough to make good grades, I wanted them to be proud of me. I was the only one out of all my brothers and sister to get Honor Roll or straight A's and finish high school.
We give our daughter money for her A's. This year she gets $3 per A because she's in third grade. I tell her the same thing my parents told me, just do your best and that's good enough for us but she's harder on herself than we could ever be. We give her the money to just reward her for all of her hard work, she deserves it.

My motivation for getting good grades was getting into college and not having my parents lecture me for hours if my grades were bad. If you had to listen to my father for 6 hours with every D you would be motivated too.

I was already getting good grades when my mother started giving my sisters and I 20$ at the end of each school year if we had good grades. I had a teacher from grade 8 to grade 11 who would give his students 1$ for getting 100% on a test. That really motivated me and in one term in grade 8 I got 100% for all 3 classes of his that I was taking.

I came from a very poor family so money isn't the reward. Our rewards come in gifts ---like a new pencil case or a new lunch box. Or trip to the amusement park. We were taught to earn money by working hard for it.

we were surviving beneath the poverty line, so no, no cash rewards. all of my siblings did well in school, and i was my high school valedictorian. going to a great college and not being poor in the long term was motivation enough.

chocolatine: "No, absolutely not. My parents expected good grades from me, and grounded me when I got bad ones."

Me, too. And "bad grades" had a very broad definition - I think once I got in trouble for an A-.

I did love the Book-It program, though - we never went out to eat otherwise, so it really was a treat, and for something I was doing anyway.

I mean, I wouldn't call it money as much as my grandfather would give me a quarter for each A I got...it came out to roughly a dollar fifty...and that only lasted until like, 5th grade.

I could buy a 7-11 slurpee with my earnings (and I probably did!)

Yes. Also, dinner at Red Lobster (don't laugh--that was the prime dining in my town) when report cards came out.

Straight As all the way through school, baby!

Where are these children who are mollycuddled by parents their whole life?
Ive never heard of ANYONE getting money for good grades, in fact, I wasnt even given money to catch the train to school!! I had to earn it from age 14 like everyone else did - same goes for lunch money, school uniform money, going out money, basically anything I wanted to do that wasnt in the house and some things that were!

I shudder to think how some people grow up...Its not a dig at you girls who were paid, but just a generalisation

i don't wnat to say that it was expected that i would get good grades but i certainly wasn't rewarded monetarily for doing so. i think that it's a good motivational tactic to do it - if someone's not even putting in the effort for school, but i think that sometimes parents fall back on easy solutions like that - and it's not necessarily the best way to operate. when you get into the work force, aside from the random and not often seen raise, you don't get money for doing a good job.

My parents used money to motivate us, but not by giving us cash, but by teling us that getting good grades meant having a sucessfull future.

No...some of my friends got money for good grades, and since I already was getting straight A's I pitched the idea to my parents. They threw it right back with a suggestion that we keep the status quo, but throw in a provision that I would pay THEM should my GPA drop at all. That kept me quiet

I didn't get money for good grades but my mom did reward me with "treats" when I did well. I remember getting to go to Sanrio (Hello Kitty) to get things or going out to my favorite restaurant. It was kind of an inconsistent thing so it didn't hinder my intrinsic motivation. Also, I think this is a good idea. I've worked in the DC public school system and I really don't think it could hurt to try. I've seen examples of this in other cities and it seemed to work well.