Topic from December 2007
Should advisers bribe their advisees? Should we offer prizes, raffles, and other rewards to students to get them to fill out surveys, make and keep advising appointments, attend group advising sessions, etc.? What are the pros and cons of bribing our advisees to do what we expect them to do? Does it denigrate the value of advising activities if part of the value is built on an extrinsic reward rather than on the intrinsic value of the activities themselves? What's your opinion?
Readers' Responses
Advisers definitely should not bribe their advisees! Instead, advisers need to find ways to impart to students the importance of being responsible for their academic careers, which relies in great part on seeking advisement and then following through with adviser's recommendations. Students need to be encouraged to take ownership of their academic progress for the sake of their own individual progress; not for the sake of a “prize” or a “reward.”
-Christine Leichliter, The College of New Jersey, December 3, 2007
If you bribe them once, you may have to continue to bribe them to get them to do what they know they should do. The goal of advising is to assist students to become independent, not hold their hand for every task or reward them for doing it.
-Ms. Gerald Dupree, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, December 10, 2007
For another take on this, see this article in the Chronicle: “Cash Rewards for Good AP Scores Pay Off, Study Finds.”
-Ed., December 17, 2007
Bribing is very different from positive reinforcement. The former occurs if before appointments, you say, for example, “If you will come prepared, then I will give you a reward.” Positive reinforcement occurs when you say, “Thank you—I appreciate your coming prepared. Please enjoy this ??? as a sign of my appreciation.” Bribes are not helpful, but I believe positive reinforcements (can be tangible or intangible) are very effective in dealing with anyone!
-Jill Anderson, North Carolina State University, December 17, 2007
OH, PULLEEEEEEZE!!!!!!!! They should be bribing ME! If I had to bribe students to take advantage of what I have to offer them, I ought to go get a job selling shoes at Macy's. Then, I could justify giving them a coupon to buy a pair of shoes.
This kind of mentality is disturbing to me. If what I can give students is not worth their time and effort, I should not be doing this job. Bribing, cajoling, rewarding, or whatever else you want to call it simply cheapens our profession. We should offer a service people want and need or we should not be doing this work. I'm sorry, but if I hear of an adviser at my university doing something like this, I will know immediately that the quality of their work is substandard.
There are not enough hours in the day or days in the week for me to see all of the students who want to make appointments with me. I don't have to beg, bribe, or anything else to get them to come see me just so I can justify my job. Several times a week, students effusively thank me for the help I give them. Their parents seek me out on Parent's Weekend and at graduation to thank me for all I did for their students. Students stop me in the grocery store, in restaurants, and uptown to tell me that my advice worked for them and everything turned out o.k. Do you think that would happen if I paid (i.e., bribed, cajoled, etc.) them to meet with me?
-Phyllis Mendenhall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, December 18, 2007
I absolutely do not support either bribing or rewarding students with cash or other prizes to take responsibility for what they need to do. Part of our responsibility as advisers is to teach students to navigate the university system so that they can be responsible for their lives and make decisions that will help them reach their educational goals (theirs, not ours). To include in this that they will be materially rewarded for participating in something we (not they) think is important is to deprive them of consequences that allow them to mature. Additionally it teaches them that doing what is right, or good, or in their own best interest, is not reward enough. That's a bad expectation for life, and may set students up for disappointment as that expectation is not forthcoming in life outside of college. The sooner they experience consequences of their lack of engagement in services offered, the sooner they can learn to take control of their lives and make better decisions.
-Gretchen Anderson, Western Washington University, December 18, 2007
That you would even pose this question indicates the nature of the way too many of the students who show up in our offices. They've been coddled by indulgent parents who are desperate to be liked, and they've grown up thinking the world revolves around them. Personally, I say let them suffer the consequences of stupid choices, especially when it comes to taking advantage of assistance made available by the institution. At some point in time, they've got to learn hard lessons about the realities of being an adult in what is often a demanding world.
-Rob Mossack, Lipscomb University, December 31, 2007
Bribe? It's a matter of interpretation. Much like credit card companies, airlines, employers, and even gambling casinos use a reward system to gain customer/employee loyalty, I see no harm offering book vouchers and other amenities to students who take personal responsibility for their academic success.
-Linda Hardenbergh, College of Public and Community Service, UMASS/Boston, December 31, 2007
“Bribe” is an interesting choice of words and one that shapes the responses. The true meaning of bribe would only be appropriate if the adviser was receiving some inappropriate reward for having offered it.
If you ask instead, “should students be rewarded for making good choices?” the response is likely to be different. Or ask “should an instructor make a course interesting?” (I TA'ed years ago for a professor who began a lecture on Puritan thought by saying it was really important, even though it was really boring. You could hear minds closing after he said that.)
I work mostly with traditional-aged student who are young and still learning about being adults. In higher education, cause and consequence are often far separated in time—not seeing an adviser while a first-year student may cause problems that only show up a year or two later. I therefore do things that encourage students to come in and come back. Is this bribery? What is important is that the student realize on some level that he/she is just being encouraged to do what he/she ought to be doing anyway. If the student instead learns to only do things that are immediately rewarded, the process has not worked. But if the student looks back later and says “I am glad I did that,” the process can work. Keep the real reason on the table.
-Christopher Lee, University of Wisconsin–Madison, January 2, 2008
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