What is Digg?115 Comments
- soccernamlak, on 10/12/2007, -1/+100(Sigh).....I could have been one rich kid growing up....
I never agreed with the state achievement exams: it forces the teachers to teach the exam instead of the material and ranks kids based on how much they should know according to our lawmakers. Ultimately, there are kids who are good test takers and those who aren't....state exams and this incentive do not account for the latter. - hbweb500, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32".....I could have been one rich kid growing up...."
Im sure AP exams have always been expensive, but nowadays they run $80 or so. In several of my classes I am given the option of taking the AP exam or the final. This year I have 3 AP exams, so thats $240. So I can pay $240, or take exams... Im obligated to pay.
My point is: tests are expensive. If I got paid for every test I did well on I still might be in the hole for my 3 $40 SATs, 3 SAT IIs, ACT, and APs. - joshuaxls, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25Actually, there's no need for a monetary reward at the time of taking the exam. Just wait until college. If you do good on all of that standardized crap, you'll most likely get a bunch of scholarships. And if you live in a fair state like Kentucky which puts scholarship money over-and-above tuition into your pocket, then you'll be getting much more than $100 per exam.
The goverment paid for me to stay drunk throughout college, and then some. Thanks Uncle Sam. - tont0r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22What happened to the motivation of "Get good grades of you get an ass beating when you get home"?
- unicornhunter, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20yep. sometimes I think there's a total conspiracy to keep the kids stupid. I think I'm right.
- D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15My high school gives free condoms.
- Oculus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15I got money from my parents for good grades, like $10 for an a, $5 for a B, and nothing for a C or lower. That was in the late 80's. You know what, I still slacked off. It's like the first kid in high school that gets a job. Yeah, he's making money, but look at all the WORK he has to do for it. You're young, spend your free time having fun and slacking off, or indulge in school work if that's what you like. Do the best you can in school regardless of the rewards. You'll have plenty of time to stress out over making money later on in life.
- misterpony, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Not much different than the Pizza Hut Book It! program they had when I grew up. It's not like they are giving them cash. Besides, the article says it's a study run by Case Western Reserve to watch student progress.
- Antialias, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11They thought there were problems with cheating before...
- rogerjones, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8My essay was about me being a murderous sharecropper who burned his master's house to the ground, and then dragged him into it to watch him die. I am not even joking.
- lucid270, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9@hbweb500
A lot of schools reimburse students for AP tests completely. My school paid half of the cost when I took them (6 years ago). A good thing, since I can remember taking at least 8 exams. - Sp0rAdiC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I had the Pizza Hut thing too. I was the top reader in the class before I got there, so I won without trying. But a reward definitely would've made me pay more attention in school. I was definitely in the top 10% of the class in terms of intelligence, but I just barely made the top 50% because of my lack of trying.
- uberdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7In other news Ohio school district bullies are collecting more lunch money than usual.
- Kyoushu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Now, where does the government get money?
- Lord_oftheTrons, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I remember taking these and blowing through the math section in about 5 minutes. Then I got to the English section and wrote a nice narrative about robocop and ninjas. The year after our class took these tests they implemented a policy of making students take a required study class just for these tests. The school district gets more $$$$ from good scores so its all just a political battle.
I wish I would have saved a copy of that robocop/ninja masterpiece. - unicornhunter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6cash or no cash, it's a reward that has value other than simply the accomplishment of doing the job right. And yeah, it's probably no different than what you had with Pizza Hut. I never had any of that. I got stickers.
- Xanadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Forget about the $100. They should say that every kid who fails it has to work at McDonald's for the rest of his/her life.
- 15thPD, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Baseless claims FTW!
- merdiesel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Earlier this week there was that story submitted on High Schools starting school later in the morning. Now, kids are getting paid $100 for passing state achievement exams...
Whats next... coupons for beer, free condoms, and naked cheerleaders.
Man, I wish this special treatment was going on when I was in high school. - jhshukla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"... work at McDonald's"
how about eat at McDonald's for the rest of their lives? - OmegaNine, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I think this is a good idea, make kids want to learn the boring ***** in school I hated....Then grew up using on a daily basis.
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I am a straight B student, and I get 99% percentile on state-based and standardized tests.
These standardized tests are very innacurate. - carpespasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4http://digg.com/politics/Bill_making_it_illegal_to_spank_your_kids_going_to_the_Legislature
- lacronicus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3thats not much of a threat. quite a few already do, at least in high school
- championchap, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4In the UK, you can.. and I do recieve up to £30 a week for simply attending further education.
you get a £100 bonus here and there if you stay on track and generally do well.. on an IT course there isnt really anything to spend it on.
But i managed to justify spending the £500 that i had accumulated on a new PC. - gstuartj, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4My school gives out free condoms, too. And the cheerleaders aren't very hard to get naked.
- rogerjones, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Not to sound arrogant, but state exams are usually ridiculously easy. Anyone that can read and write can easily pass the achievement exams. There is usually a group of like 20 or so kids out of every 500 that are the real problem that the district is trying to solve. These kids are either lazy/emo, don't speak English, or come from really messed up homes.
Offering money to do well doesn't really help the 5% of kids that just can't pass no matter how much you bribe them. Mandatory, targeted tutoring is usually what solves these problems. - srodolff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The government is you, silly person.
Where do you think the government gets the money? - usercc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This may make some students study more. The lazy ones who don't care at all about grades but would like the money will cheat. The punk kids will try to steal the money.
This will cause more problems than improvements. - lacronicus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3oh the irony...
- ChrisSlagle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I live in Eastern Ohio and this really isn't going to do much besides increase the number of cheaters. Personally it's a good idea but cheating in my school is high enough as it is.
- warfang, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2When I was in my sophmore year in high school I scored high on a State Exam (I think it was STAR) and the government gave me $1100 to use at any college I want to. It's been gaining interest for the past 4 years and my company pays for my school so it's useless to me. I'm thinking about buying my friend's books with it and they'll give me the money for it, in doing so I'll get the $1100 that I earned :).
- iliketurtles2, on 11/20/2008, -0/+2In the UK if your parent(s) earn less than £30,000/$60,000 a year you are eligible to receive £30/$60 a week in EMA ('Educational Maintenance Allowance'), which is normally wasted on drugs and alcohol.
- arcangelgabriel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I had such incentives growing up. If I got good grades, my father allowed me to live.
- drewhenson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2my school didn't cover any of the expenses for my AP exams...and I took 8 at $82 a pop. also, my physics teacher (not the school) will pay you $100 dollars for a 100 on the NYS Physics Regents. It certainly is an incentive, although I'm the only one to ever claim it :).
- consonance, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've got a better idea.
If a kid gets an A or a B, give them a dollar. If the kid gets a D or lower, charge the kid $10 for wasting the money the government spent on them. - jmholloway, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just wondering, but how does this have to do with liberals? Im not even liberal and I dont get it.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Pshh! I spend $100 on pizza. You guys know what I'm talking about?
- NikoKun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I always knew they had to start paying kids to go to school... XD
- djbumunltd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2this may encourage cheating.
- nick2354, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2lol our minimum wage is 7.50, damn CT.
but yeah i agree, if you dont do well in school you usually do poor in life. - ICSU, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You gotta use the sarcasm tag obviously.
- Palladian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Public education is going down the crapper.
Growing up, I was expected to get Straight A's and got a lecture if I didn't. I guess it boils down to the parents' expectations for their children.
I was amazed when other kids got money for getting good grades. I even asked my mother about this and she laughed. Damn asian parents! - JCSaint, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You know what I got when I got good grades? I didn't get a beatdown. That was a damn good incentive to get good grades.
- graizur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2CONSPIRACY? Why do people call things conspiracy when they are not even secret. It's called tyranny.
- GeneralAntilles, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I earned 14k a year working at a bookstore 30 hours a week (more during the summer and holidays) sophomore, junior, and senior year and high school, while maintaining a 3.8 gpa. I'd hate to have the government step in and say that I wouldn't be allowed to work.
Economic incentives to do well on tests are a good idea. High school students are generally too short sighted to be looking towards the possible scholarships they might get in college, so immediate rewards will be more effective for them. Plus, most of my friends (who were in the top 10% of our graduating class) got less than $500 worth of scholarship rewards because they were either: A. Going out of state, B. Too white, C. Too male, or D. Too rich. Scholarships are never guaranteed these days, even for good students, unless you're a minority, a woman, or disabled.
The school board payed for all AP exams in the county. - stormgren, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I call BS. Give a citation for that "ranking."
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Critics maintain that paying for grades can kill the students' inner desire to learn for learning's sake."
Since when do students even learn for learning's sake? - iofthestorm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1that must not be a very long life then.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My few thoughts on the topic and a few of the comments:
First, I am a bit mixed on the idea of paying for performance, but an achievement test is a test that measures what you know; what you have learned. A problem on these tests is test-taker apathy (ANOTHER! test that doesn't figure into my grade) and so they don't try; in college, this is still a problem (the "it doesn't matter for my grade, you say?, screw it!"). This is a sad reflection on society, but I think that it helps to give a more accurate picture of what students know and what they do not; the apathetic student's responses tell you nothing. They are essentially sabotaging the validity of the test.
As for AP exams, your performance on those typically gets you college credit; if you pay 80 bucks for an AP exam and get college credit (which typically costs $100 - A LOT MORE $ per hour) and thus there is a benefit; people with no college plans are probably not taking AP exams.
Finally, I have come to dislike the "teaching to the test" knock. If the test is well done (i.e., valid and reliable) then it should reflect what SHOULD be taught in the class; if teachers are "teaching to the test" then they are covering what is being valued. As long as teachers don't know the problems on the test and pass out the tests in advance, I don't think I see a problem with a focus on "teaching to the test." If this is really a problem, then the test is bad. If a kid is going to be tested on dividing 3 digit numbers, then the teacher would be negligent to NOT cover three-digit division and would also be negligent in not giving the child practice three-digit division problems... is this "teaching to the test?" If so, I am all for it. -
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