Punishing some by rewarding others

RANT ALERT!

Fairplay is very important to me and it annoys me when I see things that, in my mind, show a lack of fairness.

Recently my daughter was legitimately off school with illness. She had never really taken time off school before, so we knew that she was serious when she told us she was not well.

Anyway, she came home a few days later telling me she had homework. Nothing unusual about that. However, she then said that those who had 100% attendance didn’t get any homework as a reward for having 100% attendance.

To me, this seems a little unfair. It’s not like she is of the age where homework is being used to expand classwork or to catch up on things they have missed. To be brutally honest, the homework they get is utterly pointless 99% of the time! This is evidence by the fact that they can just drop it for some when they feel like it!

I get what they are trying to do. Encourage kids not to malinger by telling them they will get a free pass on homework for one week if they don’t miss a day of school. However, this reward for them becomes a punishment for those who have a legitimate reason to have missed school.

It is important that when you design a reward system that you consider the balance of the rewards. Does rewarding someone unfairly disadvantage or punish others? This isn’t about mollycoddling people or treating them like “little snowflakes” this is about being fair!

And relax…

Originally published at Gamified UK Gamification Consultancy.