2008 Woodie Awards
Paying kids for school doesn't add up
Kyle Whitney
Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: Opinion
My middle school days were largely spent sitting at desks learning algebra, writing essays and complaining about being in class. The teacher would often comfort me with the fact that he, too, was forced to be there each day, and someone would invariably yell, "But you get paid!" Without fail, the response would come: "So do you. Your report card is your paycheck."
I was only a 13 year old trying to survive the excitement of an Upper Peninsula childhood, but the pay seemed sufficient.
Now, however, the students at some middle schools in the nation's capital are receiving more literal, and more ridiculous, paychecks. With help from the Capital Gains pilot program, 14 of 28 middle schools in Washington, D.C. are rewarding the kids' efforts with cold, hard cash.
The program is the brainchild of Harvard economist Roland Fryer, and provides money to middle school students based on attendance, behavior and other academic benchmarks, such as homework completion and grades. The kids receive varying amounts of points for completing these already required tasks, and the points are then converted to dollars. Over the course of the school year, a student can earn a maximum of $1,500.
The total cost of this year's pilot program is $2.7 million. Half of that bill will be paid by a grant to Harvard from The Broad Foundation, an organization with the goal of "transforming K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition." The D.C. taxpayers will be left to pick up the rest of the tab.
And the schools in the district clearly need help. According to a 2007 study, only 12 percent of D.C. eighth-graders were able to read proficiently at grade level, while just 8 percent achieved that designation in math. These numbers are lower than any state in the country.
I'm certainly in favor of bettering our education system, but the Capital Gains program is completely ridiculous on many levels, and it doesn't even aim to fix the underlying problems in the D.C. public schools.
I was only a 13 year old trying to survive the excitement of an Upper Peninsula childhood, but the pay seemed sufficient.
Now, however, the students at some middle schools in the nation's capital are receiving more literal, and more ridiculous, paychecks. With help from the Capital Gains pilot program, 14 of 28 middle schools in Washington, D.C. are rewarding the kids' efforts with cold, hard cash.
The program is the brainchild of Harvard economist Roland Fryer, and provides money to middle school students based on attendance, behavior and other academic benchmarks, such as homework completion and grades. The kids receive varying amounts of points for completing these already required tasks, and the points are then converted to dollars. Over the course of the school year, a student can earn a maximum of $1,500.
The total cost of this year's pilot program is $2.7 million. Half of that bill will be paid by a grant to Harvard from The Broad Foundation, an organization with the goal of "transforming K-12 urban public education through better governance, management, labor relations and competition." The D.C. taxpayers will be left to pick up the rest of the tab.
And the schools in the district clearly need help. According to a 2007 study, only 12 percent of D.C. eighth-graders were able to read proficiently at grade level, while just 8 percent achieved that designation in math. These numbers are lower than any state in the country.
I'm certainly in favor of bettering our education system, but the Capital Gains program is completely ridiculous on many levels, and it doesn't even aim to fix the underlying problems in the D.C. public schools.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
lw
posted 11/20/08 @ 7:34 PM EST
I agree with you, Kyle - helping kids achieve academic success starts in the home. Unfortunately, many students have less than ideal home environments. (Continued…)
Jason
posted 11/20/08 @ 7:42 PM EST
It's an experiment. What happens if it works? If D.C. discovers that paying a child $100 will increase their test scores by 10% whereas investing in a library has a negligible impact on their achievement, would you still stick by your argument?
No one knows what the outcome will be, but why not try? The education sector needs more innovation, not less. (Continued…)
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