I needed a place of my own to rant!


on!

 

I am listening to my mom and a customer solve all the problems with our educational system as we speak.

 

Incentives for showing up at school? Who thinks this a good idea?




[QUOTE]Wordplay

by Kevin Fahy
I sometimes think that there are two kinds of people in the world, those who can call in sick, roll over and go back to sleep, and those who can

 

I was thinking about that, Mikey. While I think it's terrible that kids need to be bribed to go to school, from a psychological standpoint it's actually a decent idea. People respond much better to positive rewards than they do to negative punishment. I was a 'good' student (top 5%, 3.75 GPA without the bonuses that schools like to use now to inflate GPAs, a bunch of academic and service awards, etc) and I missed a bunch of days and classes because the punishment wasn't significant or bothersome. I suspect most kids felt the same way. But many would have responded with some tangible reward. My school, at the end of the year, would give anyone with perfect attendance a gay ass little plaque - big f'in deal! I know I would have made a concerted effort to go more often if the reward was more tangible. It wouldn't have changed my grades, but for some people, actually showing up may have hepled them.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think NCLB should include attendance as a factor. If you're smart and diligent and can pass all the tests and get As with 70% attendance, you (and your school) shouldn't be punished. If anything they should be punished for being too friggin easy.

 

I hear ya, but like you said in essence this is a money factor under NCLB. What is it doing? IMO it is helping the rich schools get richer. The affluent/wealthy schools can afford cash pay-outs...cars or whatever for rewards....so once again the rich get richer. >NMLB

 

Yeah, that's my whole problem with NCLB. It punishes the schools that have kids that can least afford being punished. But that is in line with the GOP agenda .

 

Exactly! It seems like this administrations solution to everything is throwing more money (or tax breaks) at the wealthy.

 

 

education is over-rated


on!