system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Kids that behave should be rewarded more than kids that misbehave

In middle school and even in highschool, there were always times where the students that were generally the rowdy or misbehaving type were rewarded for times when they would be on good behavior for a while. Often it would be candy or free homework passes, but it always bothered me because the students that never acted up and were always super polite and whatnot were never rewarded for their consistent good behavior. 

I don't think the issue lies in the fact that the misbehaving kids would get rewarded, but I remember often being aggrevated because I would see other students getting rewarded while I wouldn't get anything for having consistently good behavior. 

I understand this gives an incentive for the rowdy to become more behaved, but I think it just leaves out and frustrates the kids who never act up.

At the core, i think we need a better system for good behavior in middle and high school where the polite and respectful are rewarded just as much or more than the misbehaving who have a day of good behavior.

Edit: Thank you all for the contributions! Definitely have left with a changed view on things.
gpt
The point of the reward in this situation is not to reward good behavior by itself but to acknowledge a conscious change in behavior for the better. For a lot of those kids who were badly behaved, the change came because they were working hard at controlling their emotions, physical energy, giving attention, or doing other things that is outside of their normal range of behavior. It took conscious effort, it maybe made them feel uncomfortable, they had to use emotional control that for kids is very difficult to understand and implement. 

Rewarding that behavior is *necessary* to help them develop those skills and deepen their emotional control. A kid who is very prone to just ditching things when they're too hard or lacks the will to dedicate themselves to a task has to push through a lot to finish reading a chapter or finishing a worksheet that tests them on a subject they don't enjoy. We want to encourage that behavior so we have to acknowledge that effort and make them feel good so they will want to do it again or feel capable of doing so without the reward. 

Good kids already have those skills. They can already push through that pain/discomfort/emotional instability without assistance. It's a compliment to them but that equally means they don't need help to get over that bar. It's the same like if you're teaching two kids piano, you will necessarily have to praise every attempt and mangled effort at Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from the beginner but you will expect far more from a kid who has been playing 2 years and won't praise them for the same result. 

They should be rewarded for doing similar tasks that stretch their abilities but the fact that the bar is low for one kid and high for another necessitates different responses and they shouldn't be rewarded in the same way for the same things.