positiveaynayim; Nobody will argue with you about the importance of verbal
encouragement, proper chinuch, and letting the kids know there is more to
yiddishkeit then all this the prizes and rewards, however, speaking from experience with kids, i can tell you that a prize/reward sweetens the deal, and kids
always appreciate it if done in a proper way.
1) working hard, 2)getting rewarded, 3)feeling the prize was deserved.
It seem to me that you are not talking about prizes, rather about people who
don’t know how to be proper mechanchim. Just like discipline is very necessary
tool in Chinuch, however done the wrong way can be catastrophic.
We need to educate our Teachers. A freilichin Chanukah!