@gondwanalon I remember your story now that you tell it again. It’s extremely similar to my father’s story.
My story is different. I learned to read in first grade with the other children and the teachers liked me very much, I was a compliant girl and good at playing and getting along with the other children.
I found out in later grades that some friends were given $1 per A, and I told my parents and my dad said, “learning is the reward.” It meant nothing to me. My parents were not very focused or involved with what or how I was learning in school, but they were focused on the importance of education.
I have no idea if I would have worked harder if I was paid for a grade. For $1, probably not, although, I guess that would be more like $10 today. I was simply lazy about school. If it had been $100 I probably would have worked harder. Poor people might be more motivated than middle class by the opportunity to earn money, but maybe not. Hard to generalize.
I thought Bloomberg did something with motivating students with money. Maybe it was somewhere else and not NYC. I’ll try to Google for it. It might have been just talk and never put into practice.
Of course the ideal solution is making school more interesting and enjoyable for kids.