Great way to teach the lesson that the only motivation one should have should be for money.

The idea behind it bothers me, as in my perfect world the culture would reinforce the message that education and intelligence are valuable things to acquire anyway, but I suppose our educational system is in an alarming enough state to make any solution better than no solution.

I would rather see the money paid to the students going to primarily low-income schools, to pay for books, equipment, good teachers, and good arts programs, however.

Jude I agree that would be a better way to spend that money.

I wonder if the idea came up, but was vetoed due to a doubt that the schools would use the money as intended? I can't imagine that no one suggested that as a better solution than paying the kids off...

To be honest, the fact that the money is being offered specifically to kids of low-income families feels a bit like affirmative action to me, and despite being the liberal that I am, I don't like that much. In any case, it seems even more important to teach the children of low-income families the ultimate value of education, rather than just satisfying an instant-gratification sort of motivation.

Again, though, whatever works, I suppose...

id rather see the money go toward paying my student loans. no one paid me to go to school and put myself through college, but i did and now i have a mountain of debt. this is retarded and i find it hilarious that newt gingrich's daughter came up with it...

I think it would be interesting to put the money into an account soley dedicated to paying for college rather than giving them the money. It would help to break down the barrier that money can be to students who would consider college but couldn't afford it.

I do agree that just giving them money to study is cheap message.

But only if it's minimum wage. We shouldn't raise their hopes.

Jude:
I'm with ou on the affirmative action thing.

Re: education the children the value of money. I think it's an awesome idea but very difficult to implement. One would need to not just teach the children of low income familes about educations value but the whole family and the larger low-income community. Education can sometimes be a sticky issue for people in low income households. The higher the education, for the most part, the more you get pulled out of the community which helped you to, in part, form your sense of values; I don't know of many who can straddle those lines between classes because the values differ so much. Though a college degree seems to count for less these days, it does have the ability to pull the person from poverty to at least the middle class, unless you choose not to pursue work or go to grad school.

bell hooks wrote a great book that explains her experience with this. It provides a look at class and notes that we don't like to discuss it though it influences us more than we acknowledge. Class breaks down the lines (of seperation between us) in a different way than race and is more powerful.

Sorry so long.

I do like the idea of putting it all in a college fund, instead of actually giving it to the kids. Or maybe give them $1 per hour and put the rest in a fund.

While I agree that getting a good education and improving yourself "should" be motivation enough, I have to be honest and acknowledge that I probably would have done a lot better in school if I was being paid.

Oh gees, this is what I call too many cooks in the kitchen. The best recipe in my opinion for getting our schools and our students back on track is to fully fund education. Education has been under funded for decades now and too many schools have slipped through the cracks because of our negligence.

It just doesn't make sense to me. We are willing to put millions of dollars into what I call school band-aid co. like Sylvan learning centers etc. which were born out of a deficiency in our public school system. A deficiency which we stood by and let happen. Now we've got money going in a hundred different directions out of the parent’s pockets. The government doing God knows what with the education money and our schools are getting worse and worse. Is it really that hard to see what the problem is and take care of it? Not to me it isn't.

Paying a specific economic group of children to learn is a misguided approach which will come back to bite us in the @$$. Now, if they want to give every public school student a bonus at the end of K - 12 as an incentive to go on to college and can only be used for college or trade school. That would be acceptable to me. Those who choose not to go to college will have their share reabsorbed into the system six years post grade 12 graduation.

raciccarone: i concur. also, they should be taxed.

I disagree with the message it sends as well. The message, regardless of income, should be for kids to work hard to get good grades. This, inturn, leads to better job opportunities and scholarships should they opt to continue on with their education. Plain and simple. But I do agree that we need to invest much more than we do in public schools. Just not in this particular manner.

I don't think this is fair!!! Why not just take this money that you're going to be spending on paying these kids to learn and put it into a scholarship fund that EVERYONE can have access to? You can't make someone enjoy learning, even by paying them. Even though I pay for all my eduction, because I live with my parents and they make enough money to supposedly support my tuition, I can't get grants or anything because of that. If you're going to go through with this idea, then let everyone have a shot at it, not just low income students. Because it is HARD to hold down a full-time job and go to school full-time, its hard to hold down a part-time job and go to school full-time!!

From the article -

"Cushman launched Learn and Earn this year after an Atlanta businessman offered to sponsor it, and Creekside High School in Fairburn, Ga., and neighboring Bear Creek Middle School fit the right profile for it. More than 60 percent of the students are considered low-income; more than 90 percent are minorities; and the schools trail district-wide achievement rates by eye-popping margins."

To me, I can understand thinking that this sends a bad message, is unfair to other students, yadda yadda. But a school where the majority of the students are in poverty and their test scores are in the toilet, it's time to try whatever works. And it seems to me that this a private entity, not tax dollars, is footing the bill. Honestly, I work with this population and the situation is grim, and money does really talk. What I hope is that the eight dollars is in a gift card and not strictly cash incentive - a lot of incentive-giving programs don't do cash directly, that's a misnomer, at least the ones around here more often give grocery store or Walmart cards - so the money is spent a little more wisely, on food or bus passes and Medicaid cab fares.

I say if it's funded through a private grant, let's see what the results are in a couple of years. It might be a flop or it could turn things around. In my mind, it's not worth bashing the idea because at least I want kids to succeed at almost any cost, and I don't really see the point in overthinking in this kind of situation; it sounds like this is a school in dire straits.

Absolutely not.

Putting funds towards future loans, grants scholarships etc would be more logical. If we reward students before they have actually done anything we run the risk of wasted cash.

Again this is something that takes away some of the burden of educators and families. Another easy out.

"Hard Work" should be instilled by the families; and the educators should make the curricula more stimulating .. this is what will motivate children.

I really hate to sound as irritated with this as I am but why on earth should we pay kids to get an education? The non-profit group should take the kids who are squandering their education to the local factory, steel mill, chicken plant, whatever their pleasure and let them work for a month doing hard labor. All the while telling them that if they don't get off their butts and get an education then they may as well stay there because more than likely that's where they will make their living.

Our country is trillions of dollars in debt, and we are deciding to PAY kids to do their homework? That is absolutely ridiculous for two reasons: 1) the whole point of homework is to get students to learn on their own; if i was getting paid to do my homework, i would either just write down crap to make it look like I was doing it or I would get someone else to do it for me. therefore, are you really helping the students? 2) you cannot give money to only low-income students; if the school system is going to give money to fifty students, then they need to give it to all the students. some kids cannot help it if their family is not considered "low-income," just as some kids cannot help it if their family is considered "low-income." just another prime example of how stupid and unfair school systems an be.

The program "reinforces the idea that they are destined to be wage earners." I laughed out loud at that. God forbid anybody be expected to work for a living.

I think the idea is silly. If people can't connect current hard work with future success, they're probably not smart enough to be that successful anyway. If it's a privately funded program I've got no real reason to complain.

I agree with the last 4 posters; Bettyesque, piper23, Hannah426, and Michelin.

I really can't say much else - I think the idea is ridiculous, a waste of money, completely sends the wrong message to the students.

Hate this idea. We shouldn't have to pay kids to study. Take up an after-school job and a weekend job and you can earn money that way. Learning is a gift and we shouldn't have to pay kids to appreicate it.

FYI, this is not a tax-payer program. A businessman is backing the non-profit. It's a private charity.

No disrespect Liberty, but for me a "businessWOMAN" would have a bit more credibility. Particularly when most teachers have breasticles.

If it will keep more kids in school, I'm all for it.

even as an individually funded private charity I still think it's a bad idea.

Hey fuzzles,

I was just relaying information about the specific program, i.e. that a man offered the financing. From NPR:

Cushman launched Learn and Earn this year after an Atlanta businessman offered to sponsor it, and Creekside High School in Fairburn, Ga., and neighboring Bear Creek Middle School fit the right profile for it.

Ummmm...who cares if a man is footing the bill? I don't care if it was a man or a woman who developed the program, either, although it was a woman.

I think it sends the wrong message on several levels. And what happens when my kids get to school, and I am dollars above the poverty level. Do they get paid to study?

I'm a little torn. The idea here kind of offends me. And it definitely isn't sending a great message.

At the same time, sitting back and saying that regardless of whatever is happening, parents and educators should be reinforcing the value of education feels a little like saying my kids are lucky to have parents who care about their education and f*ck all them other kids.

Education has value in itself; it is a gift. Should you be paid to accept a gift? Also, if anything, they should be rewarded for *results* (i.e., grades), not just time.

Also, I'm sick to death of being screwed at both ends. We're not poor enough to qualify for all these special programs, or wealthy enough to pay for enrichment programs. My kids are both bright, but we are not able to provide them with all the opportunities I feel they deserve and need to reach their potential.

hypnotic: Education (at least in California) may have been underfunded for years, now, but the money they *do* have is not well spent. I look at this stuff *every day*, so I see how it works.

Oh, and all you smart people: What kind of code do you use for bold and italic fonts?

Laine:

For bold, you put a "b" between <> at the beginning of the word/phrase you want bolded, and "/b" between <> at the end. (Without quotation marks.)

For italics, it's "i" between <> at the start, and "/i" between <> at the end.

I understand what everyone is saying but I think it makes sense. There has to be a reward system that works to encourage people to want to learn. What would be great would be if the kids were set up with bank accounts as scholarships or trusts.

I understand what everyone is saying but I think it makes sense. There has to be a reward system that works to encourage people to want to learn. What would be great would be if the kids were set up with bank accounts as scholarships or trusts.

I really think it should be equal. Put the money into schools to help them improve, or help all children pay for books and other costs of schooling. The whole idea as is is just ridiculous.

Am I the only one who doesn't mind this idea??? As Liberty said it doesn't come from tax payers so, to me if someone wants to put money to education then, yeay. I don't like the fact that it only bennies low income students. I just think it should be for all kids.

We give our daughter rewards for good grades, good dental checkups etc. I don't think there's anything wrong with incentives coming from different directions.

Yeah, more things for public schools would be nice. But, that doesn't really BRING a kids attention to better themselves. Maybe it does encourage the idea that "money makes the world go around" but just because something isn't perfect, I dont' think it necessarily means to scrap it.

I just think if someone wants to do something good with their own money, more power to them.

I can appreciate the intentions behind this, but I feel that it is short-sighted and misguided. I think this ultimately sends the wrong message to the students; young people need to understand that the benefits gained from getting a good education far outweigh financial rewards, and in the end it is only in their best interest to do well.

I agree with some of the points already made: perhaps a better use of that money would be to put it back into the school systems. It seems almost insulting to pay some kid $8 an hour to do something he or she is supposed to be doing anyways, while teachers are still grossly underpaid and educational programs like art, music and phys ed are being cut all over the country. Perhaps they could start some other kind of rewards program for students' academic achievements, like maybe giving out gift cards to food or clothing stores or local restaurants to help offset their families' cost of living expenses (not to stereotype, but trusting a teenager to do the right thing and be sensible with a pocket full of cash is akin to trusting a lion not to attack you while wearing a suit made of raw meat.)

Perhaps they could use this money to establish more scholarship and financial aid programs so that kids who want to go on to college or private schools can do so without their families falling even deeper into debt. If we want to improve the state of our nation, we need to create an environment where any kid from any type of background can have access to quality education. So while I agree with one poster here who observed that at least doing something is better than continuing to do nothing, I can't help but feel that a program like this will ultimately backfire.

I am totally against this. I believe that students should be taught to do their homework for the sake of learning. Good grades should be the reward! This is absolutely ridiculous!