I saw this on the news last night and tracked down an article in the New York Daily News: It’s a Cash Course. Some students in certain schools in Staten Island may get paid for getting good grades. Incentive or bribery? Just pure hogwash. Proof of a liberal society gone too far. There’s no value in a gold star sticker, no value to an A or B versus a D or F, I guess. That’s been thrown out the window with the prizes and valedictorian selection so that everyone who isn’t the valedictorian won’t feel badly.
But now money, money’s something different than a dumb sticker or a medal or a citation, or even a pat on the head–this last of which I’m sure is fraught with fear of retaliation for either sexual harrassment or child abuse.
That’s right, folks, bring it all down to money. Why wait for the kids to learn about the real world when they get out of school and into it; start ’em out young. They’ve also mentioned little gifts in lieu of money, like an IPod. Well hey, that’s neat too.
And you’re worried about a sense of entitlement started back in the 70s? Well, I think that one of the words that academics and psychologists like to toss around is reinforcement. I believe in reinforcement as well as a system of rewards for work well done. But there’s also a standard of achievement that they’re seeming to forget. You’re supposed to do well, and at the very least, reach that standard if not exceed it. And you shouldn’t need to be given $50 if you do.
Boy, I wish I was born about forty years later than I was. It could all have been handed to me and here I end up with a bunch of old yellowed papers with the gummy residue mark of a gold star.
Pitiful.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology