What is Digg?90 Comments
- inactive, on 12/02/2008, -1/+47I wonder if they'll 'incentivize' the A's I got in school years ago, something tells me I'm out of luck.
- Autodidaddict, on 12/03/2008, -2/+41If you're spending tens of thousands of dollars for tuition and room and board yet need a $100 incentive to get your ass to class, you probably won't be earning much from your economics class grade at the end of the semester.....
- MadWhack, on 12/04/2008, -0/+29The last line made this article worth reading.
But he hopes GradeFund will change students' motivation level. "We're setting up small, little carrots," he says. "Let's say there's a seventh-grader who is contemplating cutting class with his friends. If he has $100 on the line, maybe he'll go to class." And if he's really on the ball, maybe one day he'll realize that GradeFund's 5% transaction fees amount to a pretty hefty commission. - IIECONII, on 12/03/2008, -3/+27My parents offered me this deal when I was in middle-school and high-school. They offered $100 per-"A".
Sometimes bribery doesn't work...especially if you don't give a ***** about busywork. - leontes, on 12/04/2008, -3/+26Any person with a good sense of psychology would recognize how much of stupid-ass idea this always has been. If we teach kids that performance equals reward rather than the thrill of learning than all we have are kids looking to gain rewards rather than enjoying the beauty of the knowledge. Already this grading system leads people to learn for tests, which makes people forget much of the information because it no longer is relevant.
A better idea is this: if you are able to demonstrate learning you are rewarded by being seen, encouraged through conversation, embraced with new aspects of learning and engaged with as a person, not as a "learn this, bitch" machine. - oenoneablaze, on 12/04/2008, -0/+19to paraphrase stephen colbert, here's a math problem:
jimmy has $100. Jimmy gets $50 each quarter for getting an A in class. If Jimmy gives Joey $30 to copy his homework and get an A, how much money does Jimmy have at the end of the quarter?
Ans: He doesn't know because it was his math homework. - InfernoX, on 12/04/2008, -0/+8Yeah, but why do it for free? I go to school to learn, as it stands now I learn more spending an hour surfing the internet than I do in an entire day of school.
- dxmzan, on 12/04/2008, -0/+7I paid for her D's.
- Culero, on 12/04/2008, -0/+7the one's that actually pay their OWN tuition, do not.
- ileftfark, on 12/04/2008, -0/+7I think probably the best argument you can make for this program is that it teaches kids that in the real world, we are rewarded for our hard work and diligence.
But that's *****.
In the real world, we are paid for the work we do- what we contribute or what we can bring in (which is why movie stars' and athletes' salaries are so high). We don't get paid for 'motivation'. We don't get paid for bettering ourselves. Not monetarily, anyway. That's something that needs to come from within, and without getting all preachy about it, suffice it to say that this will only teach kids to seek tangible compensation for intangible rewards. If a child doesn't understand the value of motivation and lifelong learning, a dollar bill won't make them any better off. - Cglass, on 12/04/2008, -0/+6Wow your original post was "This is BS"
Now I look like a *****. - mattymc, on 12/04/2008, -1/+7You boss bribes you everyday to come to work
- gfxlonghorn, on 12/04/2008, -0/+6Or it could make kids greedy as *****. Not to mention completely polarize the average kids from the not so average kids. You think you are going to want to stay in a school where everyone is getting A's, while you sit there getting an F because you can't understand something, even if you try as hard as everyone else. Those kids are going to drop the ***** out.
- thisissami, on 12/04/2008, -2/+8this is useless. you have to get people to sponsor you?
- InfernoX, on 12/04/2008, -0/+6The problem is, most activities in schools are not mentally stimulating. Very rarely do we ever do any interesting activities in most of my classes, teachers who barely deserve the title just come in and put some notes on an overhead or hand out worksheets that repeat the exact same problems. There's no sense of achievement for finishing a worksheet or answering a question because they're either A: Ridiculously easy B. Insulting my intelligence easy or C. A variation of A and B.
- Sandtiger, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5For someone that can not afford to pay for school having a "Free tuition/books/fees for grades" program is the #1 best incentive. I had something like that with my workplace and ended up making a 3.95 GPA and completed my BS in Business Administration in two years instead of the normal four years. Night classes while working during the day is tough but its worth it.
- Cglass, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5I distinctly remember all A's from kindergarten through 12th grade, $3900 please.
- dunmasterkane, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5My A's WHAT?
- MikeWanDo, on 12/04/2008, -1/+6***** dude, I'd be rich. Don't know why you wouldn't at least do a couple class's worth of busy work (especially at middle school level). Get all A's in middle school and that's $600 a semester/year. I definitely wouldn't have minded that.
- adamroach, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5Your incentive to go to work and do a good job is so you have four walls and a roof with food on the table.
- spaceman84, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5Then they graduate and come to the painful realization that the real world often does not reward exceptional performance or effort.
- haikuFU, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5If I ask someone that question and they answer "blue," they are getting a *****' beatdown.
- DickyT83, on 12/04/2008, -0/+5I'm sorry but if a kid responds with 'blue' when asked what 1 + 1 is, I'm not sure rewarding them is the right thing to do.
- rescu911, on 12/04/2008, -0/+4I'm thinking school should be valuable without grade bonus checks.
I'm thinking every one of these kids would give back every penny if the school promised them that after they've shown they can read well enough to find information, write well enough to make themselves understood, and use maths well enough to understand, budgets, credit agreements, and their taxes...after they've demonstrated these skills, the school will find them internships in electronics, construction, plumbing, automotive and other vocational fields, after which they will be employable.
Imagine graduating from high school and looking forward to earning enough money to move out of the house. High school kids aren't stupid or lazy. For the most part, they want the direction their lives take to have relevance.
Unfortunately some idiot decided that vocational education is somehow demeaning. What the hell is wrong with having an honorable trade? - InfernoX, on 12/04/2008, -0/+4This doesn't fix the system.
A better way would be to :
1. Remove busywork, every assignment should have a purpose and students should take away something from each and every assignment
2. Less "passive education", this means getting rid of notes and actually having teachers involving students in activities ( especially at the lower grades)
3. More field trips, theoretical knoweledge is useless if you cannot apply it to the real world.
4. Encourage students to be "silly" once in a while, it develops personality. Teachers should be less like an authoritive figure like a police officer and more like someone whom students respect but can still be comfortable around.
And blammo, maybe people might be interested in school. - gfxlonghorn, on 12/04/2008, -0/+4Yes, your right, we got to the moon by answering the problems involving the physics of getting out of the atmosphere with colors and shapes. There is a difference between creativity and stupidity.
- gfxlonghorn, on 12/04/2008, -1/+5***** christ... this bitch expects her parents,old teachers, and relatives to give her money for the ***** she is supposed to be doing anyways. You go to school, to eventually earn money bitch. Getting good grades has a cash incentive, and its not your idiotic ploy to extract as much money as possible from people who don't owe you *****.
- Barackalypse, on 12/04/2008, -0/+4We've tried throwing money at the schools, that doesn't help, so next we're trying by throwing money at the students. At least this has micro economic theory on its side. Subsidize what you want more of, we've subsidized crappy schools and guess what, they still suck.
- NathanielJ, on 12/04/2008, -0/+4Or you could realize you have to be there for the vast majority of those 1,350 hours even if you don't get paid for them, and decide that you might as well not completely waste all that time.
- gixxer600, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3lol perfectly sums it up
- Louis11, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3For the most part public education is a joke. When I was involved in it, it was absurdly easy and catered to the people who had little to no ambition in life. With that said, why not put in as little effort as possible while still getting A's and B's. Seems like the obvious solution to me :-P
If they are going to force you to be there, then they should at least offer more advanced classes that people like me would be interested in. I could care less about $100 per A . . . - NathanielJ, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3This is terrible -- this website is taking commission off of you finding people willing to pay you for getting good grades.
If your parents want to pay you for getting an A then hooray for you, but don't do it through this website for crying out loud. - PseudoThink, on 12/04/2008, -1/+4I used to think this might be a good idea, but something bothered me about using a carrot on a stick to motivate students. Dan Ariely's book "Predictable Irrationality" (as recommended by Kevin Rose several Diggnation episodes ago) really crystallized it for me. If you think this is a good idea, read the first few chapters of Dan's book.
- inactive, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3I dont know, I spent every night doing homework and every lunch period with the teacher asking questions and getting more homework done. I never partied, I rarely even hung out with my friends outside of high school.
I still got C's. Where's the justice in that? Teachers didn't give a ***** about me or why I was having difficulty with their homework. It wasn't until college where I had less busy work and more meaningful work that I began to earn a lot of A's. - gfxlonghorn, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3I agree that this is a stupid idea, however, the thing is, when kids get "A's" on everything, a miracle happens. You can teach them harder stuff. Eventually everything would level out, which would inevitably make the smartest kids get A's and the somewhat smart kids get B's, etc etc. The population would be smarter as a whole in theory, however, I think if you were only getting paid for A's, the people not getting A's would stop giving a ***** when they realize that they can no longer make A's. The people getting A's would see they wouldn't have to work as hard to get A's, which inevitably brings us back to where we started.
- Louis11, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3180 Days of School a year, 7.5 hours per day (where I went to HS), comes out to about 1,350 hours per year. Now assuming that you made all A's in each of the 7 classes (again, this is where I'm from) you would make $700 a semester, or $1,400 a year. Or about $1/hour . . . I could make more than a $1/hour procrastinating and writing code.
- haikuFU, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3That's *****. Anyone who applies themselves can do well, and poor kids can get scholarships for doing well. A scholarship is the same damn thing as this, but rather takes into account the whole of a kid's performance rather than each and every A.
- ileftfark, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3Perhaps because failing will bring you a $700B bailout?
- gixxer600, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3i know ***** im getting 3 A and a C in my hard ass engineering program and no one gives me ***** and i dont expect it or want it ill wait another year for that 80,000 paycheck ....but i am suffering from lack of motivation during finals but still money wont fix it those A are in the bag
- FMSfreebies, on 12/04/2008, -0/+3the sites running so freakin slow.
- Harboggles, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2I am both for and opposed to this measure for two reasons.
For: As an economics major I am all for incentives to encourage competition. Some kids will get more money for being smarter, others wont get anything. Kids get to see the connection early on that being smart equals big bucks in our world. Usually.
Against: Is our country so dumb that learning has to be paid for? I love sitting down on wikipedia and reading stuff, my friends and I talk politics all the time for fun. - leontes, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2I go to work to help people deal with addictions and mental health disorders. I get paid, sure, but believe me with my intelligence and skillset I could make a lot more money in another field. I go to work because I can do good and make a difference in people's lives.
And I learn more about humanity the more I work with people. I learn by doing; being in a helping profession. - passedoutghost, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2This is just an excuse to reward yourself with money isn't it?
- IIECONII, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2Sorry guys I kinda' forgot about the comment I left; wasn't expecting a reply.
To oenoneablaze:
It depends on how many A's Joey gets for you.
Furthermore, Jimmy would be +$20 for every A.
100+20A= Jimmy's Total
...it wasn't math. I'm not great, but...it wasn't math.
/in college. Not getting paid per-A anylonger. - haikuFU, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2I was going to make fun of your grammar, but since you apologized I will refrain from that particular activity.
- tuttut97, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2Gentlemen,
Last year I had a couple of exchange students from Finland & Germany.
They were saddened by our school system and offered this insight.
They said " In our country we are taught that being a rebel if you will is ignorant. When society progresses as a whole as a collective our country benefits as well as our education. When they see a fight they see it as a weakness where you cant gather the words to express yourself and you are considered weak. In other words they see the breakdown in learning and cooperation as a hindrance.
As a parent of a 7 year old this made me think. Who has it right.
Do we wish to be a nation of hard working innovators or do we with to conquer the world with war.
Now I must admin I love a good brawl as any American would but as our society goes global one must ask himself.
Do I want my child to compete with his blood or his willing to work tirelessly to be better.
Just something to think about,
I love my country regardless and it will do what it does, And therefore I must shed what I shed for it.
But what if we teach them innovation and pride. American Pride?
I welcome your constructive criticism.
And I apologize for my ignorance with grammar. - MisterEThoughts, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2Worth a try... I guess...
- ileftfark, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2@gfxlonghorn
I see what you're saying, but then it becomes a 'no-competition' environment, where everybody is expected to get straight A's and win at everything. That makes no one better off, and you don't learn many real lessons from it. But I see your idea came full circle, landing us in the situation we are now. I don't claim I have all the answers, either. I don't know how to fix a broken television, but I can come over and say, 'Hey, that thing's ***** up'. - chibaken, on 12/04/2008, -0/+2None of you ain't not never gonna get no "A's" in English if you keep sticking an apostrophy in As!!!
- cnot3, on 12/04/2008, -1/+3What ever happened to hitting your kids?
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