About that idea to pay kids for good scores ...

... Forget it.

The idea of giving students $50 awards for strong marks on a variety of high-level exams - touted by folks like Jeb Bush and put into a bill by Education Committee chair Anitere Flores - is not going to move through the Legislature, House Schools and Learning Council chairman Joe Pickens tells the Gradebook.

"We're not doing that," Pickens said. "I don't think we should be paying students to do that, especially in this type of budget year."

Key parts of the legislation dealing with remediation and dual enrollment will find their way into more acceptable bills, the powerful chairman said. But schools and parents need to find other ways to motivate their kids to learn and do well in school.

"I just think we ought to do better than that" bill, Pickens said.

Comments

[eloquentmind]

Paying kids is ridiculous... If they want to pay kids for good grades let mom and dad do it! Besides, it teaches a very poor lesson. Getting good grades is important because it prepares you to get paid later in life when you are a professional; it prepares you for your life as an adult. What will they do when they get to college? Demand their professor pays them for their As and Bs? That's laughable! We need to stop worshipping our kids and teach them to be responsible and that in time they will see success. Enough with this immediate gratification.

[PRO on HCDS]

Now that the system has prostituted the teachers for a while, the system can prostitute the kids. Now that the teachers have been treated as dependent dysfunctional's with the asinine "merit awards" that are as legitimately fair as bolita, the kids can now chase the elusive panacea only to see it disappear because of some arbitrary cutoff line.

They got rid of "achievement ribbons" because it was demoralizing to the kids who did not receive them. They got rid of "pizza parties", "popcorn parties" and fun things that motivate kids.

But, in some disconnected type of mindset, they think "money" is what motivates people.

Cheap is that cheap does.

[terminator]

this was just another of jerkweed Jeb's asinine ideas.
Poor Jebster, in a down budget year no money for frills.
maybe your oil exec buddies will want to contribute? (I didn't think so)!

[Timmy!]

Another thing to factor in when "grade inflation" is brought up. Will they index the "A" or "B" payment?

Ridiculous.