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I heard on the radio this morning that the DC Public Schools is launching a program where they will pay their students $100 every two weeks if they stay in school, keep their grades up, attend classes, be respectful & polite, etc...

Is this sending them the wrong message?

You can read about the DCPS program by going to this link:
http://dcist.com/2008/08/21/dc...tudents_for_grad.php

what do you think? is this really sending the wrong message to these kids?

Now...my reply. I honestly thought, how can this be sending the wrong message?

The comments on the article I thought was just opinons and I don't think peoplle were really thinking this through.

One of Tim's professors told the students that being in College is preparing you for your life career, so what YOU do now will say what or how you may survive your job. Coming to class on time, getting assignments done on time, being respectful to the class and instructiors, being reasonable with late assignments and stop using your grandmother as an excuse for not going to the final exam.

Makes sense, right?

Personally, I think this is great to give kids incentive now so that we start teaching them the good habits of achievment.

Ok there may be some "flaws" in this-but new program will have flawas. But in reality, its time that kids take their education serious and treat it like a job like you have to college.

With this program, they will want to be successful in HS and in college and by the time they are ready to work (if they should go to college or not) they will have those morals instilled into them.

I know alot of people will have "negative" opinions about this article or the program itself, who or what won't. But you have to start someplace to motivate these kids.

Just curious to what you think?

My thoughts...First, I don't know what the state of their school system is in terms of funding, but just look at the state of Florida. We keep seeing cut after cut in the school budget. I would be angry if I were a parent of a child in Elementary school or HS that's lost classes or faculty/staff due to a shortage of funds, but they can still find the money to pay off select students for getting good grades.

Secondly, I'm not convinced that paying a kid off to get good grades in MS will give them the motivation to stick with it in HS and college. And what happens to the kids who really want to learn when those who could care less simply stick around to cash out every so often.

Third, what happens to these students when they move out to the real world and discover that they are no longer being given incentives? What happens when they get their first job and months go by without any kind of a progress review? Years go by without a raise etc. etc.

I could see some kind of incentive program, but I don't think these kids should be receiving money every 2 weeks, and I don't think the incentive necessarily has to be monetary.

Ok. so let me be the odd man out... (well woman)

I think this is a load of crap. Paying kids to go to school?? What are the parents doing? The incentive should be that you don't get in trouble if you go to school!!! When I was in school 15 years ago my incentive was not getting my tail torn up!

We seem to get it right for elementary, but something happens in middle school and it goes downhill from there.

I think also that we all have to understand that there are some kids that will never go to college and that's OK. Those kids should have the opportunity to go to a vocational school or technical school so they can train for a skill.

Casmly- thank you for your response and I do respect your opinion and thoughts. At first I sort of thought the same thing and then decided to replace those thoughts with something a little more positive- because no matter where we are in life, something good has to come out of a "bad-idea". (well what many may consider as a bad idea).

The other thing is that this in Washington DC- yes every state has different budgets to meet with that state needs.

I'm not sure where you come from, but in most northern state, they have Federal, State, city, local, etc..etc..taxes. So they have the resources that we in Florida or Texas or any other state may not have. We don't have State taxes to pay, nor do we have city or local taxes to pay. So our resources in Florida is unfortunately limited or not there.

Unfortunately, Florida relies on the tourism and some taxes to bring in the resources. But if that is low or not there, we are just left empty handed.

And ...supposely (but is a joke) the lottery is suppose to help fund the schools here in Florida. But think that is being mis-handled big time.

Right now, what the DCPS is doing is a test program to give these kids incentives. It may be that the schools in DC is just poorly graded and lot of gangs, etc...etc...When I lived up that way I can remember the news full of negative info on the DC schools and kids. So there is that part of me that is excited that they have finally found something that may give these kids some kind of motivation. they have to start some place and this might be it for them and it might not.

But we have to at least let them give it a try- give some type of effort to help these kids succeed before they end up 6 ft under. We have to give them some kind of credit for figuring out something that might work for those kids in DC. It might not work for every kid or every school or every state. But something has to give and they just might have the answer.

I do think schools should use some type of incentives-might not be money, but something to really motative these kids to stick it out.

My nephew-now 26yrs old graduated from HS, but didn't have a high GPA or motivation to go to college. Drugs caused him to "crash". Now that he sees Tim going to college and making a career for himself, and got high GPA's...etc..etc..he now regrets he did not really take his HS days serious and regrets not going to college. I know my sister tried to motivate him. I know I did too. But it was the choice he had to make. Maybe if he really had something to work on he might had succeeded.

Its the choices we all make, and with some, they need help with those choices.

The policy is exactly why big government should NEVER be wanted. During the early 90's in the Tampa schools the mindset was on rewarding kids for many things they should have been expected to do. We gave them candy, tickets, prizes, etc. It became a real CHALLENGE to get kids to take tests or quizzes or get something (etc) when the first words out of their mouths were, "What am I going to get for it?" The philosophy of such rewards THANKFULLY went by the wayside.

We are sending horrible messages to our kids when we make the value of learning EXTRINSIC instead of INTRINSIC. We are setting them up to be selfish, lazy, greedy, spoiled brats and we are not doing the hard work to SHOW them that education can be fun and rewarding (ie a diploma that gets us a job and out of poverty).

The proposal is the LAZY man's way of putting a bandaid on a huge problem. DC has tossed money at the failed public schools for decades and now it thinks that tossing money at kids will solve the district's problems. Yeah, that will work.

We used to pay kids in Tampa to turn in drug dealers or tell where their drugs were (in lockers, etc). THAT ended when the principal realized the drug dealers were getting all the cash from turning in their rivals (and the good kids were still scared to turn in dealers and for good reason).

FIX the problems by going to the source, whatever it may be (and any one problem may have multiple sources). What a waste of money and what a horrible message we are sending our children; education isn't worth anything but a buck! Just another failed, ignorant policy by those supposedly in charge...

You also have to remember something, what may work for one school may not work for another school (or kids). Not everything or program is going to be perfect. but how are we to know if we don't at least give it a try. If it doesnt work- then it didn't work. We move onto something else that might work. It does NOT mean it will fail.

Maybe in Tampa it did not work, but how do you know its not going to work in DC? What if that is the one key that really works for those kids, does it still make it a failing program cuz it failed in another state/school?

Every state and every school system is different - different environment- different rules - different types of people.

Its like a drug treatment of ...let's say cancer. the drug is there to help treat you of a terrible disease. But what that drug may do for one person, may work miracles; but for another person, it may do more harm than good. But you don't know how a person is going to react to the drug unless you give it to them.

We have to leave doors open- try to give different alternatives-options. We just can't shut the door of an idea cuz it failed in one school.

Life is full of doors, some doors in our lives are the bad choices we make while other doors can be the good/positive choices we make. But we don't know which door will give us what we need in our lives until we experience it.

Just like the addicts, they know its bad and addictive. Its a choice they made. But some are to ignorant to know the difference and still take the drug. Life is full of different lessons and we have to take it by the rope or horns and deal with it.

We can't just give up because we don't like the idea. We don't know if this test program will work for the DC kids. It may not. but it might be effective to some kids. Give them a chance to test it out and see if this is the answer and if it is- applaud them for it.

What might work for one may not work for another.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by carmic1975:
When I was in school 15 years ago my incentive was not getting my tail torn up!

We seem to get it right for elementary, but something happens in middle school and it goes downhill from there.
(end quote)


I think that what happens to some is that while the kids are in elementary school you have a big transition going on. The kids are changing from being 'babies' into young children. I remember when mine started middle school alot of parents I knew took this as a time in life for their kids to become 'latchkey' kids. The supervision went way down. These kids are on their own way too early and they then begin to enjoy their freedom and right to make their own desicions freely and unsupervised. Then when someone starts to notice that the child is getting into trouble and becoming unruly alot of times it is too late if you are not a devoted parent. Once the respect is gone it is a TOUGH road to go down to get it back. I am a SAHM now but before my youngest was born I worked from the time my older kids started school until I had my youngest. My older two were 11 and 13 when my youngest was born and they had never stayed home alone..I know some kids that are 8 and 9 years old that stay home after school until 6pm or so until their parents get home from work. I know it is tempting...especially when we have good level headed kids...to not have that after school care bill, it was for my husband and I. We would discuss it but thankfully chose the right thing and continued to have them in the care and supervision of adults.

As for paying money to kids to go to school...I am skeptical. They need to learn to be happy with the rewards they already can get from school...good grades, respect, awards and feeling good about themselves. I think it is up to the parents..not the state or school system...to provide any further rewards, monetary or otherwise. My kids get $5 for each 'A' and $3 for each 'B' on their report cards. That is as far as we go. Parents need to make sure their kids know when they are proud of them and when they are unhappy with them. Its the parents that are failing the kids these days...

Karen

This message has been edited. Last edited by: klmorg,

I don't understand the value in paying someone for something they should be doing anyway. If that's the case, please someone pay me for doing the laundry and vacuuming and cleaning the shower and dishes and caring for my kids.

School is something kids are required to do. There should be no further incentive or discussion. I don't pay my kids to clean their room, but I will give them a treat if they do something extra. This mindset that we should all get rewarded for doing things we should be doing already is a bad road to go down. Speaking of roads, since speeding cost's money, shouldn't we get paid for going under the speed limit?

The problem is that parents aren't doing their job. It is our job as parents to make sure that our kids come first. So if that means sacrificing for the sake of them, so be it. There are plenty of parents out there that feel like school is supposed to teach their kids how to be adults. I don't think that's true.

I would be in favor of it on situations where the children come from families that cannot support themselves and the kids have to take jobs in high school to support the family! When I was 24 I had a job as a retail store manager. I had a young boy working for me (16) who worked to support his family (single mother with a younger sister). His Mom worked two jobs and did not have a high school degree. He used to bring his books to work and do homework while on breaks. He was always begging me for more hours as he needed the money. He was such a good kid. I would have done anything to have the school pay him to go to school, so he did not have to work so hard and would have an opportunity to be a kid. However, I agree that kids need to value education as a monetary reward in and of itself. I know that he did. He just needed some help. When the parents cannot help, we need to step in and help. If not we will just be paying our tax dollars to jails and rehab programs. I always prefer my tax dollars go to proactive cures vs. programs to correct symptoms of a failed system.