Students and the incentive system

“Don’t worry, you’ll pass. They’re giving incentives [additional grades].”

This was a piece of advice given to engineering freshmen by a graduating engineering student, overheard by College of Engineering (COE) Dean, Dr. Rosemary Seva.

In an effort to dissuade this attitude, Seva anounced that COE’s Industrial Engineering department will discourage their faculty from giving incentives for non-academic activities,  especially parties.

COE Industrial Engineering Department Chairperson Richard Li explains, “We do not want the student to be passing a course just because he or she attended a party. It’s as simple as that.”

Last November alone, various student organizations hosted multiple intercollege parties, the most recent of which were for charity – Cryo, Risque, and PROBE: Civilization Breakdown – which received incentives support from many faculty members.

Li remembers that when he was still a DLSU student, his batch hardly saw parties that had endorsements from faculty members. “Unlike this generation,” he comments, “where almost every term, there are parties for students to attend.”

Student LIFE Director Evelyn Lopez-Esparrago recalls that incentives used to be granted discreetly, and were reserved for academic events. She expounds, recalling that as student organizations became more active three years ago, incentives-driven academic activities became increasingly common, eventually spreading into non-academic activities.

Esparrago observes, “[… Incentives were] not as frequent and blatant as now. I noticed they really flash the name of the block and the name of the faculty members.”

Encouraging extra-curricular participation

Esparrago, however, believes that overall, incentives are beneficial to DLSU’s student organizations. “For me, incentives are a push.” She shares, “It’s a good way for a student organization to prove themselves and showcase what they can give.”

Emil Sobremonte, Assistant Vice-President (AVP)-Promotions of Business Management Society (BMS), also thinks that incentives generate participation for organization events. BMS Assistant Vice-President, Diorella Chua, also confirms that incentives help them exceed their number of attendees.

AdCreate Society President Tricie Amador believes that even if incentives attract attendees, organizations should not rely on them. She expounds, “It’s really about having activities that members want to go to, with or without incentives.”

Student Darlene Dy, IV APC, acknowledges though that there are activities that do not benefit students in any other way, except through incentives. She admits that some activities are not worth attending and are only attended because of incentives.

In a survey conducted by The LaSallian, out of 146 DLSU students across different colleges, 45 percent said that they would not attend an event if they did not have incentives from their professors.

The popularization of the incentive system, according to a College of Liberal Arts (CLA) respondent, also “[gives] me assurance that I will pass.”

Barely passing?

Another survey respondent from the School of Economics (SOE) admits that they’ve “experienced getting a 1.0, which means just passing the course because of incentives I got for a course.” 106 (72 percent) of the respondents admitted that they are relying on incentives to increase their grades by as much as +0.5.

10 respondents believe that incentives have no long-term bearing on a student’s academic learning, and encourage a mindset geared towards short-term rewards, while eight respondents think that the incentive system is unfair to students who cannot or choose not to attend a voluntary event.

Because of event ticket costs and possible transportation fares, constantly giving incentives could be costly for some students. Due to this, 12 (eight percent) of the respondents posit that financially able attendees are essentially “paying for [one’s] grade.”

On the other hand,  23 people (15 percent) approve of the incentive system because through this, students could increase their grades and gain new learning experiences while “having fun and taking a break.”

Faculty decision

Esparrago thinks that faculty members, for the most part, want to support student organizations, rather than consider the academic benefit students receive from their incentives.

Amador shares that in the Marketing department of the College of Business (COB), professors are more likely to give incentives to parties if the host organization falls under the professor’s own department.

Esparrago furthers that faculty members are in a better position to gauge whether an event should receive incentives.

“We are in a university, so we cannot dictate on faculty members [that] they’re not supposed to give incentives to parties.”

Some faculty members, however, acknowledge the value of incentives, but ensure that students would not be complacent. Political Science department Assistant Lecturer Arik Abu expounds, “In giving incentives, I see to it that a student will be motivated enough to get good grades without having to depend on them just to pass the course.”

Esparrago explains that while academic departments may reinforce rules in extreme cases, the decision to provide incentives for an activity ultimately lies with the individual faculty. In an interview with The LaSallian last year, former DLSU President and Chancellor Br. Jun Erguiza FSC explained that professors have academic freedom, and that giving incentives is part of it.

The essence of learning

The issue, however, has generated complaints that the initiative could encourage students to rely on incentives rather than hard work. Moreover, some students have expressed concern that incentives are detrimental to DLSU’s image as a leading Philippine university.

“It doesn’t promote academic learning, especially when professors give incentives to parties. It can be seen in a bad light because it makes it look like DLSU condones drinking and partying,” states an anonymous Gokongwei College of Engineering (GCOE) respondent.

AdCreate President Amador argues, however, that they ensure that their parties have a purpose; usually fundraising for charity and socio-civic projects. “It’s not about having a party just for the sake of having a party,” she explains. “There’s always going to be a purpose for the party.”

Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) President Emil Ongchuan explains that incentives do not affect the number of their attendees. He recalls that for both academic and non-academic SME activities, incentive sheets end up accumulating fewer signatures than registration sheets, which indicates that many students are attending their activities out of interest.

He adds that in his four years in DLSU, GCOE professors generally do not give incentives for non-academic events.

“People come here to study. They have to earn their grades. They have to be competent,” attests Dr. Seva, reminding that, at least for GCOE’s IE department, a student should only pass a subject if he or she has earned the grade.