What will he do with himself when there is no longer a teacher at his elbow to tell him what to do and how to do it, and to stand over him (should this be necessary) while he does it?
Why should he go on with studies which he has neither the inclination nor the ability to pursue, and which, in point of fact, he has never really begun?
And why should he continue to exert himself when, owing to his being at last beyond the reach of punishment, the need for him to do so--the only need which he has been accustomed to regard as imperative--has ceased to exist?
The objections to the hope of reward as a motive to educational effort are of another kind.

Prizes, as I have said, are for the few; and it is the consciousness of being one of the elect which invests the winning of a prize with its chief attraction.

The prize system makes a direct appeal to the vanity and egoism of the child.

It encourages him to think himself better than others, to pride himself on having surpassed his class-mates and shone at their expense.

The clever child is to work hard, not because knowledge is worth winning for its own sake and for his own sake, but because it will be pleasant for him to feel that he has succeeded where others have failed.