Dienstag, 26. Januar 2010

Education

Should Students Be Paid to Do Well in School?


Some high school students in France will be paid in exchange for attending classes on a regular basis.


This is exactly what's happening in a pilot program in France that started this month at three vocational high schools in disadvantaged suburds of Paris. Accounts will be set up for two classes containing around $3000 apiece. If the students maintain good attendance records and reach performance targets agreed upon with their teachers, reward payments will be added to their class account. But here's the catch: students can't go and spend the money on a new iPod or an Xbox but can only use it to finance a school-related project or endeavor. Philippe Vrand, president of Public School Students group: "...We should spend this money making sure vocational students can get into the programs they want. Instead, students are being paid off ot compensate [for] their boredom." In the US more than a dozen states have started rewarding students with cash for improved test scores and enrollment in advanced-placement courses.

adapted from TIME, Oct.09


What do you think? A good idea or a complete waste of money? Should money play such an important role in schools?

12 Kommentare:

  1. I think that we should get paid to do well in school because a lot of kids don't have the money to get school supplies or projects or even just pencils and paper. Only if people would spend the money on school related things then I think this would be a great thing to do. My family has never really had much money and my siblings and I face the fact that we may not get the supplies we need to do our school work or a project and we have to work around that. So I think that this whole :pay as you get good grades" thing would be great for people who can't do great because they are poor.

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  2. I think that it's a good idea, but only if it's not an enormous amount of money. I also think it's a good idea to only use the money for school-related projects; it would be impractical to spend it all away before you could accumulate much. However, it may be a good idea to give some free-spending money to straight-A students, for doing well. There should also be an age requirement-not too young but also not too old, once you get to a certain age you should be able to get yourself to school on a regular basis without the lure of monetary gain.

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  3. I think that kids should get paid to do good in school because that encourages students to do better in school and that means more kids will have a better future. Kids who do well in school try very hard and do their best so they should be rewarded with something other then a piece of paper that says "Congratulation's you did well in school". It would also make kids want to come to school instead of skip the day. It just works, students should get paid to do well in school. :))

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  4. if you pay students only to have the money come back to you just ruins the point of being paid. If you get paid from your school, but if your only allowed to spend it for your school then their is no point in giving the money in the first place. If they are wanting the money to fund themselves, why do they give the money to the students in the first place?

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  5. I think it is a complete waste of money because it is your job to do well in school regardless of whether you get paid or not. It would be cool to do that and put money in special accounts but we could find other uses for money even if we do have it. For example, we could use the money to fund school programs and education and also to build new schools. Sure we could all use a bit of help when it comes to paying for college and school supplies but there are better ways to spend money especially when it is scarce.

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  6. Many good arguments have already been said, I don't really know what to think about this topic, but I tend to say that it's better not to pay students.
    I think that the world would become too material, pupils would see school as a job and ones with worse grades would feel discriminated.
    I believe that st's important to learn before earning money.

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  7. I think that many people would like to go to school for money and I think you are right about the material things. People would become more material and less concentrated on their grades. A lot of people would be concentrated on what they look like and who they are hanging out with based on how much money they make. So I don't think that people should get paid unless it is for school purposes and even then very little.

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  8. Elisabeth has a point-sometimes it is best if you have an education before you earn money. Maybe instead of paying students to go to school, employers could simply stop accepting people without a high school diploma or a GED. Not only would this leave the positions open to better-qualified workers, but the younger generation would be forced to accept that they have to go to school and do well if they want a job. Technically speaking, the students are still being paid for going to school, albeit in a roundabout way. Besides, if anyone is going to be paid for attending school, then it should be the straight-A students; even then the plan shouldn't be used in America until after the recession.

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  9. I agree with most people because students getting paid has it pros and cons. I still think it is best to not pay students because we could use the money for to better education and improve the community.It should be the student's responsibility to do well in school and get good grades for their future.

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  10. I think if I would get money for being good in school, I would probably learn more because then I would have a clear aim. But on the other side I agree with Elisabeth´s opinion that those pupils who aren´t as good as others in school, although they are learning, would feel discriminated and loose their ambitions. Another point is that the pupils aren´t allowed to spend the money for those things they like. So why give them money?

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  11. Well, I think money shouldn't play such a big role in school.
    In fact there also are some parents who pay their children for having good grades and I always thought that's quite odd. Some families aren't wealthy and can't afford to reward their kids for doing a good job in school.
    Obviously some pupils try very hard but still don't get good grades. What about them?
    They would feel pretty discriminated. It would make more sense in spending the money for
    some additional teachers or tutors who could help the pupils having problems in subjects like maths or latin.
    This would encourage these kids and would really help them get along better with school.
    Their grades would improve and they would feel better. As for those who don't have any problems in school, they should be glad even without an extra-reward.

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  12. I think pupils should be payed for good grades when they are in the elementary school. Because in my opinion the children fancy that doing something for school isn't a duty but rather a kind of routin and a matter of course. And so it's a good appeal to do more and more for school to write good grades if they know that they get money for it ;) In my girlhood it was the same and if I ever have children I would do this,too. However they visit a higher school and become a teenager, as I see it it isn't necessary anymore to get money for good grades. Because they have to learn to be freelance and that they know it's now very important for their lifes and not for the money.

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