<p>I don’t believe in bribes. There’s a lot of research out there that shows it’s more effective to teach people why a certain behavior is desirable than to pay someone. My oldest got pretty darn good grades (in the top 10 of a class of over 600), and in addition taught himself computer programming on his own. We occasionally celebrate good grades by going out to a favorite restaurant, but it’s not a given by any means.</p>