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KSa

Want to make money? Go to school!

Quote:
A high school in the southern US state of Georgia is offering students who are weak in math and science eight dollars an hour to go to study hall and review their pet peeve subjects.
"We started on Tuesday. The kids are very enthusiastic," Mike Robinson, the principal of Creekside High School in Fairburn, near Atlanta, told AFP.

Forty students -- 20 from middle school and 20 high-schoolers -- were selected on the basis of their poor grades in the two subjects and invited to attend two-hour remedial classes twice a week in exchange for money, which is provided by a private foundation.

Everyone who was selected was present at the first session, said Robinson.

At the end of the 15-week experiment, a student who attended every session would be 480 dollars richer -- and able to do the calculation to work that out.

Those who maintain a "B" grade average or better in math or science after finishing the course will be eligible for a bonus of 125 dollars, leaving them potentially 605 dollars better off in total.

"You know, in our community, you have to be really creative to get some students interested," said Robinson.

"I think this incentive is going to work," added the principal of the Creekside High, which has 2,500 students.

http://www.physorg.com/news120335850.html

What do you think?
Benjamin [inactive]

I don't think I could support that kind of scheme.

However, in this country there does exist a system whereby young people from lower income families receive money every week if they choose to stay at school or go to college from the ages of 16 to 18. This is intended to encourage people to stay in education rather than leave to find a job, and I am not opposed to this.
KSa

I think that may prompt “good” pupils to pretend they are dull at mathematics to receive money.
Elaine

I think it's stupid and shameful.  So now we have to resort to paying students to study what they're supposed to be studying anyway?????

Quote:
"I think this incentive is going to work," added the principal of the Creekside High, which has 2,500 students.


What about getting good grades and graduating with honors so that you can go to a good college and have a rewarding career?  Shouldn't that be the incentive?????  What about taking pride in oneself or simply being a whole lot more knowledgeable being the incentive?
Uriel

Doesn't bother me at all.  I mean, it may sound a little crass on the surface, but it's realistic.  After all, money is the incentive you will use later on in life to push you to learn new job skills so that you can get promoted, and it's the lure of money that gets you through college, that somehow your education will translate into $$$ after graduation.  And if it makes kids into better students and gets them enthused about their subjects, so much the better.
KSa

Uriel wrote:
Doesn't bother me at all.  I mean, it may sound a little crass on the surface, but it's realistic.  After all, money is the incentive you will use later on in life to push you to learn new job skills so that you can get promoted, and it's the lure of money that gets you through college, that somehow your education will translate into $$$ after graduation.  And if it makes kids into better students and gets them enthused about their subjects, so much the better.

Apart from the fact it's immoral (though I realize you can have different views on what is or isn't moral) I'm fairly sure that this will produce many more extremely cold, cynical cyborgs deprived of human feelings, dedicated thoroughly to $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Needless to say they'll quickly forget what they've been taught cause it was just for money.
Walker

I had a classmate whose parents payed him money to get good grades, and that never seemed right to me. I don't think that children should be offered money to do things they're supposed to be doing anyway. For instance, I never understood how some parents can pay their kids to babysit their younger siblings, and how kids can demand money for doing so. Babysitting your younger siblings, at least from time to time, is something you just do. For sure, some children need extra help in school, and they should get help. That's "help", not "money". They will learn soon enough that life is about money anyway.
Uriel

It was a fairly common practice for my classmates when I was little to earn money for good grades -- often it was $20 for every A, $10 for B's, etc.  And that was from their parents.  So I guess it's just not a shocking concept for me.  Mine never did it, unfortunately -- or I would have made bank....  
Loic

My parents used to give me a little monetary reward as well that is directly related to the number of As I had. As such, I lack the moral authority to condemn such an initiative although such a scheme strikes me as dubious in principle.

Children are immature by definition - they cannot think for themselves. If dangling the financial carrot before them encourages them to apply themselves, I cannot conceivably oppose such a measure. I can still recall how the prospect of earning a tip from my parents motivated me to spend much more time swotting than socialising. Mind you, I was already a ahem...'good' student who only merely needed that extra something to revv his engine. I do not believe in paying students to go to school though; it should be the reverse.
KSa

Loic wrote:
My parents used to give me a little monetary reward as well that is directly related to the number of As I had. As such, I lack the moral authority to condemn such an initiative although such a scheme strikes me as dubious in principle.

Yet I think there is a difference between parents and teachers.
Uriel

This is true, and I think the real differnece comes from parents taking responsibility for their children's eduaction, rather than assuming it's the teacher's job.  That would probably work far better than getting out the checkbook.

However, not every parent is going to be willing or able to do that, and not every child is going to respond to the same stimulus.  Good lord, my half-sister was tutored rigorously after school by her father for years, and is still a vague, so-so student with no plans to go on to college, because she honestly wouldn't be able to handle it.  So you need to have options available to you, and more than one way to skin that cat.  I say whatever motivates a child to take an interest and works is justifiable, even if it's not the method I would choose.  Education is such a key component of success that whatever it takes is worth it.

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