Eleven Plus Pocket Money

Money makes a difference for employees. As adults we can look at money for what it can buy – but also what it may seem to show about ourselves. We are told, for example, that if city bankers lost their bonuses they would all leave the city to work in more lucrative environments. If we were City Bankers, waiting for the bonus cheque, we possibly may have a different perspective on money to the rest of the world. For most of us the peripheral rewards of the prospect of a new luxury car have been crunched away in the present financial crisis. Greater brains than mine, however, have noted that pay is probably the single most important motivator used in today’s society.

We are often told, however, that wages and salaries are not always essential to job satisfaction. If, however, wages are held to be inadequate then money becomes of vital importance.

At what stage does working for money become important? At ten years old?

A percentage of eleven plus children are offered pocket money. It is not hard to surmise that some children may be offered additional money in return for working hard and doing well in the eleven plus. We talk about a banker’s bonus in terms of millions of pounds. Offering a child a hundred pounds to pass the eleven plus may seem to be wildly extravagant and totally unnecessary – but if it helps to do its job should it be considered?

A survey of eleven plus children – and the state of their pocket money – may give interesting information about how mercenary, or otherwise, eleven plus children are. Image a situation where eleven plus children could come together and discuss `The Eleven Plus and Collective Bargaining.’.

The children would be able to compare what is happening in the different eleven plus areas. The `Eleven Plus Compare’ web site could collect important information. Natural leaders would emerge – developing into the `Eleven Plus Trade Association’. Children would be able to press for periodic wage surveys. Children could unite in saying that an Eleven Plus made up of mathematics and verbal reasoning was worth more than an eleven plus with only verbal reasoning being tested.

Some fortunate children may also be able to state their views on the managerial efficiency of their parents. Is the pocket money paid by bank transfer into the `Eleven Plus Bank Account’? Do some children still need to remind their parents for their pocket money? Are some children still paid in cash – in a brown envelope? Do some parents think that an Eleven Plus bonus should be taxed?

Should children work towards the eleven plus for the satisfaction of striving towards an idealistic goal – or can and should some parents be a little more materialistic?