To give a cash reward to the twin who gets the best GCSE results?

[Stackss]

DS and DD are both in year 11 so have their GCSEs coming up shortly. Both are bright and of very similar if not identical academic ability and are predicted very similar grades.

Both are relatively hard working (although with a tendency to coast) but DH and I would really like them to knuckle down and push themselves to get the best grades possible.

We therefore came up with the idea of an effort-based reward scheme allowing them to earn treats for completing revision- e.g. 75 hours= a meal out, 150 hours= a night away etc.

However, both twins have suggested that instead, the twin who gets the best results should receive the whole cash reward. They are both competitive with each other and have said this would give them greater incentive to work harder.

My concern is that the twin who doesn't do as well will be doubly disappointed on results day as they will also get no reward. Should I go with the twins' suggestion?

Absolute madness. There is no problem here - you have said they're bright and hard working. They will work hard and the reward for that is good results. Give them a present on results day by all means but don't link it to their results or give them a reward for each hour of study (which is a terrible idea as it disincentivises efficient revision that leaves time for relaxation, hobbies and socialising, all of which are important).

Nah.
Put them in a cage and let them fight for it.

Seriously though it's a terrible idea to pit them against each other, even if they are suggesting it. It should be about each doing their best, not winning or losing.

You could also say that you will reward ‘best effort’ separately to ‘best grades’ and have a different reward on offer for each of them that’s really high personal value

e.g. if Twin A gets highest grades they get festival tickets /if Twin B gets highest grades they get a trip to Paris, so individualise the incentive so it’s not comparable or something the other one will want.

then have the same system for effort or a different one that allows for building up credit towards the ‘main’ reward so they could still get it (or most of the cost) if they work hard…

Basically, their plan is horrible and yours for effort is good, but I would listen to them and problem solve together because they’re teens and that can only help. It’s their exams, after all.

I work in a highly competitive professional environment. Results are everything. That doesn’t mean your aim is to beat those around you - it means you aim to do your best and help others to do their best too. If I do well and I helped someone to do better than me then that’s a win for the firm, if I do better because they did worse then that’s not a win for the firm. My firm simply wouldn’t hire the kind of person created by pitching siblings against each other. Siblings should be on the same team and wanting each other to do well, OP’s plan is encouraging them to want bad things for their twin - that’s why it’s a bad idea.

We plan on treating our child after exams are done, results or not

The op idea is not one I would do

i paid for all three of mine (different years) to go to Reading Festival post GCSEs .
Rewarding according to actual achievement is awful! Mine were rewarded for effort.

Effort that doesn’t translate to results is worthless in life

That is such a depressing view. How do you encourage less bright children then?

Nice one OP 😂

Way to get us all drowning in a sea of froth.

I don't have kids but would this not be a way to teach them about bonus schemes at work???? Or are they too young? I'd have preferred the money but then again I was a high achiever at school and my brother wasn't!

Find something they can excel at that doesn’t involve intellect

So if you’re not very bright then don’t try to work in the city, but maybe you’d be a first class manual worker

We’ve all got to hustle

@Chickenly

Exactly, and if you are achieving in that sort of environment no doubt you have a lot of internal motivation to do so. External motivators will only get you so far and they’re often the first people to crumble.

I’m godmother to twins who sat GCSEs and got outstanding results - almost an identical sweep across the board except one got seven 9s and two 8s, the other got six 9s and three 8s.

The twin with the ever so slightly lower pass grades still says they feel rubbish. And that’s with no cash for grade bollocks incentive involved.

Don’t do it OP. Hard enough being a twin and constantly compared to each other without putting them against each other like this.

Awful idea. As long as they are doing their very best. You can ask no more!

Interesting that a) most people disagree with the OP, which is encouraging and b) more top employers are starting to remove the requirements for high degree passes as they have identified that high results =/= good employee.

The attitude that high grades are the measure of a person's value is something only the really thick think.

I find bribes around revision and results incredibly odd full-stop. We never did this. It feels so unhealthy and does not teach anything.

@BritAbroad101

I get that. My niece got no GCSEs but she’s doing great in a manual profession. Many other attributes. That’s called playing to individual strengths which isn’t really what the OP is suggesting. She’s pitting her twins against each other. I should imagine they’ll compete for the rest of their lives in some way shape or form being as it’s actively encouraged by their parents.

Yes this definitely reeled us all in

They still have to get through school first.
And to do well at anything you have to try.

What are you going to say to the less academic from yR-y11? That result was rubbish? Really? No you say well done, you tried hard, I can see that you have got better with x and y.

75 hours gets them a meal out?

they’ve probably suggested their solution because yours was laughable - why not chill the fuck out?

Gosh no, imagine getting worse results than your sibling, then they get a load of cash and you get nothing! Hideous!

But how do you reward effort? It’s very difficult to measure how much effort someone else puts in. And effort should lead to better results. I don’t mean every better result in comparison to another person/subject means more effort but if I put in more effort I should get a better result than what I would have done without that effort.

i’d agree.

then reward them both equally for their effort.

rewarding study hours is a loser- I sat in my room with a stack of novels and did fuck all while I was supposedly “revising”

Very bad not good idea.

My cousins were given a sliding scale of money from As (£25) down to Cs (£10) by my DGPs. When I got all As a couple of years later, I didn't get that because it would have cost too much! I still remember it.

Having said that, for twins, paying per grade might actually encourage them to work together to push their grades up to all 9s and get the most money out of you, so it might work!

The "winner takes all" suggestion is not a good one — they'll be disappointed enough about not doing as well as the other, and then no reward on top. It does sound like they'll both do well anyway, so I'd just plan nice treats for both of them as a well done.

WTAF - why are you even considering it?! I think both ideas are terrible. At a stretch I’d maybe tell them if they try their best by revising etc then they will each get a reward.