Crazy Idea

Here's an idea: Let's pay kids money for doing well in school. That's an idea that I thought was insane when I first saw it addressed in the April 19, 2010 issue of Time magazine. Kids were being paid money for doing various things. During this experiment, kids in Dallas got paid money based on the number of books they read. In Chicago, money was given based on their grades. In Washington D.C., money was rewarded based on factors such as attendance and behavior. In New York City, money was given based on test scores. This idea that kids should be rewarded for factors dealing with school just seems weird to me. Growing up, I was not paid for getting good grades or going to school every day. The only time I was ever paid money for reading was when I was raising money for Multiple Sclerosis (so I never actually made any money from it). Luckily, I was brought up with the belief that I should do well in school so that I would have more opportunities in my life - plus, I liked learning.

It seems that these days, most kids in inner city schools don't really do well in school because they don't put the effort in. I can understand kids not always being in class (there are circumstances where they might not be), but I don't understand kids dropping out because they aren't a fan of school. There are plenty of kids, all over the country, who don't necessarily enjoy school. But they still go. I realize that there are many schools that don't have the funding to be able to create more opportunities for their students. I firmly believe that there should be grants and other financial assistance for those schools so that kids have something to look forward to at school. I understand the idea of trying to get kids to read more by rewarding them, but I don't necessarily think it should be in the form of money - although when I think about it, that is basically how a lot of people live their lives. A lot of people in the world have jobs that they don't like, but go to work to make money. Kids may not enjoy school, but they go to make money (which seems to be the concept with this experiment).

Of course, everyone has an opinion on what is right for education in our country and I totally respect other opinions on any subject. This is definitely one of those articles to check out if you have kids or are thinking about having kids - heck, this article would be great for everyone to read because it gives us an idea of what could be taking place in our nation's schools in the future.