Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Money were your mouth is, or report card in this case
The importance of education is obvious in our growing society and being college students we percieve the future value in it. Well, remember when you were in highschool and that one special teacher took you under her/his wing and gave you the motivation you needed to perservere. Now teachers are expanding into new ideas of incentives. A growing trend of "paying students for good grades" has swept the U.S. and has been since the idea first arrived in Dallas's Highschool AP programs in 1995. Baltimore, New York, Atlanta, Alabama to name a few have been giving cash rewards up to 500 big ones for improvement on English and Math test scores. Even Exxon Mobil has jumped into this push for higher learning offering students $100 dollars for each passing grade in their AP college-prep exams. I think this is a great idea and wish i had had the opportunity to take advantage of a program like that in my highschool. Considering that college graduates make on average more money than non-college graduates, i think its just a step-up a toward higher learning adds right to higher pay. We need well-developed minds to help run the country. Thats why were America and still number one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
It is interesting but I don't think that should be the only motivation for higher education. These students should want to learn more regardless. This reminds me of the phrase, "We're number one, so why try harder." It's what I hear in my mind when I see things like this or when I read that Americans are slumping when it comes to scientific progression. Years ago, or even during the middle ages, people had a desire to learn for the sake of knowledge. They sat on hard wood benches for hours, listened to others lecture when they didn't know how to even read, all for knowledge. And now we have to pay children?
This would be great for childern some times we all need external motivation.
REDICULOUS! Paying children to get good grades is just a horrible idea. Bribing somebody to do something and teaching kids money is the only motivation is a travesty to education. Also, the well-developed minds comment, and how america is number one because of it, the average american is not that smart. (I'm gonna go ahead and site my mom on this one) As a matter of fact, as an average, the chinese test higher than a high school senior, when they are in our equivalent to seventh grade. And, if they don't pass in china, they are trained against their will vocationally and are placed in factories. America is headed down the tubes if we can't get our kids to learn faster, better, and learn more critical thinking skills. We need to play catch-up
>As a matter of fact, as an average, the chinese test higher than a high school senior, when they are in our equivalent to seventh grade.
To my knowledge, this doesn't refer to China, but to Japan. Beyond that, beware of these international comparisons. The students in different countries aren't taking the same tests and they don't go through the same classes beforehand, so it isn't strictly comparable. Beyond that, tests aren't the only, or the necessarily the best, way to judge student or school performance.
JD, sometimes a kid can't focus on school as much as they would like because they are to busy wondering what or if they will eat today or if they will have a place to sleep. Even if they can make some money to help their family. I don't prepose that they do it just for money, instead I prepose that if they are doing great in school that they are able to see a more emmediate benifit from it. When you are in poverity the negative communities influences our young in an alarming rate! So why shouldn't our school system do try to do the same? It will help to future permote an Educated Socioty.
Post a Comment