In the business world, we've had this concept for years. One of the current names for it is Management By Objective (MBO). Identify behaviors that you want to encourage and reward folks for doing them. Bonuses and commission are the same basic concept as well, though bonuses tend to refer to "if the company does well, you get bank".

My company's decided to modify that. The MBO pool is based on overall business unit/company performance. From there, my MBO pay-out is linked to my performance. So, if I perform at 100%, I get 100% of the pool payout. Unfortunately if the company performs well under expectations, that pool might only be 26% of the total. Therefore, I'd get 100% of my 26% share. That really starts to suck when my personal area and I both performed at 100%, but others dropped the ball...

Now, a decent criticism of these sorts of programs (not commissions, but bonuses and MBOs) is that they're attempting to reward you for doing your damn job. A bonus for company performance is cool - that way everyone has a small stake in making things better. MBOs that aren't for doing your job but are for exceeding your job (i.e., it's not a negative reflection if you don't complete them) are much better. Large bonuses that are, in essence, commissions for signing new business, making existing business significantly more profitable, developing new products that are actually sold and make the company money, etc., should also be the norm.

However, in HS there should be no pay-outs. Your pay-out is that you're able to get into college and get a good job. Or go into a trade and get a good job. If you fail, your prospects should be limited to starting your own business (which will likely fail) or digging ditches/fry chef.

Do you really think high school teenagers are going to be more interested in long-term rewards like job opportunities than thirtysomethings? I seem to remember it being the exact opposite, but maybe that was just me.

I agree - they won't be, mostly because the education system is blowing smoke up their asses. All of this "you can be anything you want to be" nonsense has got to stop. At least back when I was in school they added "if you set your mind to it", but that was nonsense as well. The simple fact is that not all children can be anything. Everyone has different aptitudes and limitations. If the teachers were constantly reinforcing "if you do poorly in school you'll likely be a failure in life", maybe the kids would learn.

Of course, it'd help if the parents were supporting the same message instead of entitlement and the rest of the molly-coddling that happens to kids these days.

I never finished high school, but then, I actually am a failure in life, so... whatever.

Exceptions proving the rule? Not trying to be rude, but as I understand it you've got a job and a home. That probably rules you out of the failure category. However, the vast majority of kids that don't finish HS end up becoming failures at life. The lack of a HS diploma doesn't directly push one towards failure (that's driven more by the combination of intelligence, drive, desire, common sense, etc) - but it's a damned good indicator.

Dunno, I sometimes wonder if I would have done better with a cash incentive. In high school, I really did think that my status among the other students was all-important, and studying to prepare for college secondary, if it ever even made it to the radar. If I'd been offered enough money to afford the status symbols my peers valued, I'm pretty sure I would have tried a lot harder.

Of course, it all comes down to "would it have been worth the expense?" Probably not, in the end.

Honestly, it's a complex issue. We've got the hormone-fueled competition to become one's own person and distinguish oneself from the herd (that's instinctual drive and we can't do anything about that), parental support (or lack thereof), natural abilities and inclinations, and the overall message. My problem with cash rewards for doing your job is that, while they do motivate some people, they don't motivate all people (oddly enough). Especially when the rewards aren't close enough to the actions. Getting rewarded three months down the line for bunches of work today doesn't really work that well - especially when there are all sorts of other bits of work that need to be done. Knowing that you're getting paid immediately if you ace the test, sign the customer, etc., is a much better motivator.

But I'd also argue that part of school is learning how to motivate oneself to do well. Same with college - you've got to apply yourself to pass all while no one is molly-coddling you. These prepare you for the real world.

Plus, knowing our school systems, they'd find a way to corrupt this roughly 1.2 picoseconds into the process.