If the lowest sets in your school are for the mentally challenged and those with severe learning difficulties, I see nothing wrong with that type of reward system. However, if your lowest set is composed of what MY school's lowest set is composed of, what on EARTH are you doing wasting all that money on them?
While courses like Science, English, History, and Math are divided by level, all the other classes aren't. I've been in dozens of classes with these people. Frankly, they don't try and they don't care. Their great contribution to society consists of warming the seats in ISS. Giving candy bars and field trips to people who are going to be in jail in 5 years isn't anything but a waste of funds that could go to people who actually have a future.
To clear things up, our lowest set is for people who have proven themselves to be downright violent. I have nothing but utmost respect for people who actually try. I'm HORRIBLE at math, but that doesn't mean I don't do the work, skip class, or key my teacher's car when I get a bad grade.
For people who aren't great shakes academically but are willing to try, we have a Vocational Technical school (VoTech). It's where if you want to, you can learn a trade and just take your core classes at school. You can learn to be a mechanic, a nurse, a chef, anything. It prepares you for a more hands-on career if you struggle with conventional learning. I positively love that idea, because not all people are book learners.
Frankly, in real life, "showing up" isn't considered an achievment at all. Your boss won't care one whit that you showed up for work if all you do is take a nap while you're there, and he certainly won't give you a candy bar for "effort" if you hand in a completely incorrect document.
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