South Dakota tests program that’ll pay kids to learn
Posted on March 21st, 2008 by bile Categories and Tags: Uncategorized, education, Jim Parry, online teachers, schooling, South Dakotahttp://minnesota.publicradio.org/…
Advanced Placement classes are rigorous college level courses taught in high school. The South Dakota program, called Learning Power, pays for the classes and the students who pass the final test get paid a $100 bonus. The online teachers also get $100 for each student that passes.
Jim Parry oversees the program. He said the goal is to get more kids interested in math, science and English.
Bosco? Your thoughts? $100 doesn’t seem like much of an incentive to me. Less than 20 hours of work at minimum wage.
One Response to “South Dakota tests program that’ll pay kids to learn”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
March 22nd, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Sorry for the delay in my reply. I went to Philly today and did a bunch of stuff. Anyway…
You have to weigh the $100 these "smart" kids are getting vs. the $0 every other kid is getting. Whether they will admit it or not, the kids will enjoy being "so smart they actually get paid to go to school". Kids who don’t get the check with claim that $100 bucks is nothing, even the kids who do get the check will claim that $100 bucks is nothing. That being said they will still be proud to receive it. That pride and status is the motivator, not the $100 bucks.
Chances are the teacher won’t be directly motivated by the cash. The won’t say to themselves, "Hey I could pull in an extra $2,000 if I work really hard." More likely they will feel obligated to do a good job because they are probably receiving more dough. I receive a stipend for "coaching" a particular after school activity. What motivates me is the fact that I’m getting payed for it and I feel obligated, not the fact that I’m worried I won’t be able to make the money if I don’t do a good job.
Paying students is an interesting proposition. People who receive on the job training get paid. I believe it is to societies benefit for people to get an education. That being said I think you need to find a way to motivate people to attend school (cash may work) without taking everyone (societies) else’s money to do it. I think maybe if a school offered you some really good jobs to do while you’re not in class. Say you can offer a kid a job that pays $12/hr if they attend your school. That could be a nice motivator. Or perhaps you could offer the top 10% a bonus at the end of the year. That bonus would come from everyone’s tuition, so in effect it is a partial refund.