This one just might work!

Here’s another external motivator for high school students – finish early (complete all your courses) by mid-term and you receive a $1500 scholarship. Now I can imagine a lot of young people will buy into this idea. Lawmakers say they will allow students to continue to participate in sports even if they graduate early.

Arizona lawmakers offer $1,500 to seniors who finish early
Arizona lawmakers this week signed off on giving $1,500 scholarships to students who complete necessary high school course work by the middle of their senior year. Lawmakers hope the measure will encourage high school students to buckle down; schools will continue to receive student funding for the whole year less the $1,500 advanced to the student. Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)/Capitol Media Services (5/3)

I think this is interesting for a lot of reasons. We know that school is based on the principle of ‘seat time’ – the amount of time a young person is in their seat – and on the principle of ticking off subjects from a list. Does learning matter? I still don’t see anything that tells me that these young people learn anything that will help them to be successful in their life after they leave school. So this incentive motivates young people to get ‘out of school’ and into the rest of their lives – without any clear knowledge they have what they need in order to be successful in that life.

More Extrinsic Motivation