Response to blog- Pride and needs

This is a response to Becky's blog in which she asks does our pride determine what we feel our needs are and the level of which we feel we deserve? After reading her blog and thinking about it I must say that this is an interesting question. I work really hard, I don't get sleep some nights, and at the end of the day all I want to do is cry because of the massive amount of homework I have to do. Nevertheless, I work hard and I believe that I should get recognition for it and I feel that I deserve to get good grades due to the amount of work I put into my academics. I think many of us think that we are constantly doing our best at something, even though there is no measure of what THE BEST is and that we all deserve something. We take pride in our work and our completed tasks and based on that  we determine that we NEED to be recognized, we NEED a trophy or a certificate, we NEED some sort of material thing that est reflects a job well done. I remember when I was little and I got A's in school my mom would treat me with a new toy or a night out on the town and so I worked had in school; this made me think that every time I  did something right or got a high score I deserved to be treated with something, I needed recognition. It wasn't until my mom brought the harsh reality to me that I should not work hard in school because of the end result, I should work hard in school for the experience that it is giving me and knowing that eventually that I will take knowledge away from my work and not a "night out on the town." I do think pride gets in the way when it comes to people thinking about what they deserve or what they need in order to feel satisfied with a completed task a move on to the next one. It shouldn't be the case, but it true that everyone needs motivation. You can't teach a old dog new tricks unless you have a bone.  And I feel that it is because of pride that people think they deserve something, or that they are entitled to something even if others may not believe it. I, however, am not saying this is completely a bad thing.  With that said, my question is in this modern time, what can we say the basic needs are now?