Dr. Richard Curwin is the director of the Master's program in Behavior Disorder at David Yellin College in Jerusalem and the author of 20 books related to motivation and behavior, including Discipline with Dignity.
There is an ongoing nationwide debate on the issue of merit pay for teachers. Many national policy makers and media pundits have essentially said, "How can we improve the quality of education if we don't reward the best and brightest teachers with more money?" While I am never against giving more money to teachers, this idea will have a detrimental effect on learning. There is no way to determine who should get bonus money without negatively affecting students, and that makes it wrongheaded.
There are two main reasons why for the good of children this idea must be rejected. The first reason is based in my books, including Discipline with Dignity and Meeting Students Where They Live, that demonstrate clearly how rewards stop learning. Not only that, but there is a
