[mwgr5]

This comes from the perspective of a recent high school/college student.

First, I think it is important to instill a sense of parental expectation for the child to earn good grades. Most children do not like dissapointing their parents. If children know you will be dissapointed by them earning bad grades they will be more likley to work hard in school.

Expensive rewards are unneccisary. Recognition of hard work is important though. Even though my father had a very lucrative job, I was expected to get good grades and I did. After my good report card my Parents would buy me pizza or take me out to dinner. Although this was not a large gift, the recognition was benificial.

About the text messaging. I think it is important for parents consumption and purchasing of items to be reflective of what they think their children should purchase. If parents buy expensive clothing, drive expensive cars, or have expensive gadgets, I think this value of material wealth is reflected onto children.