One of the current trends in education is the use of reward systems to motivate students. Students are being motivated by cash and other prizes for high grades, attendance, and good behavior. If this trend continues, educators may lose sight of the need to motivate students internally and to find better teaching methods to accomplish this goal. The solution to increased student motivation does not lie in reward programs. Rather, educators should use creative teaching techniques and a variety of classroom structures. Techniques to motivate students intrinsically might include the use of learning teams, in which small groups of students immerse themselves in a topic. Classes can be restructured to become student-centered, self-paced, and individualized by means of monthly contracts. A workshop approach can lead students to find greater satisfaction in long-term, cognitively complex tasks over which they can have control. Parents can play a major part in motivating their children in school and can become models for their children by being self-motivated. When parents and teachers acknowledge their responsibility for setting an example of self-motivation, more motivation will be seen in the students themselves. Appendixes include photocopies of seven newspaper articles describing some of the reward programs mentioned in this paper. (MM)