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Sure I’ll study, if the price is right
By Christina Quick | January 23, 2008
Should kids be paid to succeed? A trial program in the Atlanta area is offering middle school and high school students $8 per hour to study after school. The youngsters will receive additional cash bonuses for improved academic performance. The program’s goal is to determine whether paying kids to study will make them better students.
While I believe in providing children with tangible rewards and acknowledging their accomplishments, something about this seems a bit excessive. We’re not talking about a trip to the ice cream parlor to celebrate a great report card. These kids are receiving an hourly wage to do something that has been expected of students for generations. Considering minimum wage in the state of Georgia is $5.85, some of them may be making more per hour than their parents.
I understand the concerns about giving underprivileged youth every possible nudge along the road to success. But I wonder whether we’re in danger of creating an entitlement generation. If kids are always looking for a payoff, how will they ever discover the reward of working toward goals for the sake of helping others and improving their chances at future success?
What’s next? Will someone also have to pay them to say no to drugs? Make passing grades in college? Parent their children? Avoid crime? Vote? What happens if they go on strike and demand a pay raise?
I’m no education expert. But at some point in life, a person has to develop the discipline to do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do.
Topics: In the news |
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Any college student who has an academic scholarship is being paid to study, so being paid to study is not really the issue. The issue is responsibility. The college student on scholarship has already learned responsibility or will learn it once the scholarship is gone. Paying students without requiring results pushes the program toward failure. The bonus for academic improvement is a good idea but it’s probably not enough to save this program. It’s an interesting idea but it’s sure to become another example of public education wasting money.