Should Kids be Paid to go to School?

December Great Debate

In the modern day, many people only think about getting money and handling it
correctly. Many people see others who struggle with their approach to financial situations and
feel the need to save up money and spend as little money as possible. Many people think that
any work or hardship that they do and go through, people should pay them for it. One of those
things is school. I very strongly believe that the idea of paying kids to go to school is incredibly
outrageous. Why would kids be paid to do something that will change the outcome of their
adulthood forever? Kids should not be paid to go to school because they are being paid with
their good education, getting money for going to school promotes kids to lack off, and kids in
middle school and younger aren’t as experienced as adults and late teens with money. Though
many people do agree with my point, there are still many people who don’t. 65% of debaters
on debate.org said they were on the yes side of the matter! We need to stop schools from
paying students!
Although I do believe that when kids do a good job on a test they should be rewarded,
money isn’t the thing to reward them with. Kids already are being paid at school; they get a
free education. Honestly, I would want a good education more that money, right? The point of
going to school is that kids can learn essentials they need to get into college. Then the point of
college is to learn what you need to know to go to get a degree which will help you get a job as
an adult. If you’re given what you need to eventually survive as an adult for free, then I’d think
you’d be darn sure to be very thankful for that and to crack down and do the very best job you
can do. Carrie Newman (my mom) recently explained when questioned about the subject that
“Kids are being paid. They’re being paid with their free education.” When asked to elaborate,
she said “There are places where education is not guaranteed and it’s not free. A good
education is your ticket to a successful adulthood.” “Going to school is not a job, and rather
than students being paid to go, their parents should actually pay more so as to give teachers a
better paycheck, which they deserve. School is an attempt to improve the student's life, and
should not pay them any more than mechanics training programs pay a mechanic student.”
Says a debater on debate.org, who was arguing no on the subject of paying kids to go to school.
I completely agree with both of them. If kids are getting something they’ll eventually be very
thankful for as an adult, for free, then why would we think to pay the kids to go?
Another reason why I strongly believe that students should not be paid to go to school is
that being rewarded with things like money promotes kids to lack off. Every parent wants their
child to do well in school. It’s their #2 priority; after their kids’ safety, of course. When kids say,
“I have a math quiz today!” or “My essay is due tomorrow!”, their parent says, “Good luck! Try
your best!”. Most of the time, kids actually do their best. But if they know that either way,
whether they do great on a test or not, then they’ll get paid, they won’t care anymore how well
they do on tests. They just care about the five or ten dollars they’ll get afterword. If kids get
paid all through grade school, a total of 12 years, they can probably rack up enough money to
believe that they can just skip college and go straight to adulthood. But since they won’t have a
degree in anything, they’ll probably end up as a garbage man or something that pays low. If kids
are being paid to go to school, they end up doing poorly!
Finally, who would trust elementary and even middle school kids to handle all this
money??!! Do you expect a kindergarten teacher to start handing out ten dollar bills to his/her
5-year old’s? Of course not!!! The older kids at school could trick the younger kids into giving
them their money they earned that day. Also, if a kid was walking home with money sticking
out of their pocket, some criminal could even mug the child! When kids ask their parents if they
can go to the toy store, and the parents take them, they’ll end up buying tons of toys! With the
money they got from going to school! Sure, earning money could teach kids more about
economics, but it’s a safety issue and elementary school kids just don’t need to learn about let
alone have their own stash of lots of money!
We have the choice to save kids’ education, and their overall outcome life. Paying kids
destroys their education! I hope you’re with me when I say that paying kids to go to school is an
outrageous idea! Remember, kids are being paid with their good education, getting paid
promotes kids to lack off, and elementary and middle school age kids aren’t responsible enough
to handle money! We must stop teachers from paying students to go to school!