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Kids Score 40 Percent Higher When They Get Paid For Grades
A large number of schools participating in a pay-for-grades program have seen test scores in reading and math go up by almost 40 percentage points. The Sparks program will pay seventh-graders up to $500 and fourth-graders as much as $250 for good performance on 10 assessment tests. About two-thirds of the 59 schools in the program improved their scores by margins above the citywide average. "It's an ego booster in terms of self-worth. When they get the checks, there's that competitiveness -- 'Oh, I'm going to get more money than you next time' -- so it's something that excites them," said Rose Marie Mills, principal at MS 343 in Mott Haven. Critics, who are unaware that most college students don't become liberal arts majors, argue that paying kids corrupts the notion of learning for education's sake alone.
Someone OWES my ass.
Glad it wasn't me. If I had that much cash back then it would have all been spent on pot. Smoking that much reefer would have to be bad for a developing mind... I might have become a physics major or something!
Before long children will be asking to transfer to the schools that pay the best.
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
You collect at the poker table. I hear having all 4 of the 8's is a really good hand. Of course, as in school, having all four A's is better, so avoid playing nerds.
Kids aren't "getting smarter" (by the way, what does "smart" entail?) They're learning to play the game that is the educational system.
That's what happened to me. I was already rather 'smart,' so I gamed the system so I could get a passing grade while doing as little work as possible. I think a lot of slashdotters were in my position, smart enough to not have to study or work hard.
Well, it came back to bite me when I got to college and had no discipline skills whatsoever. I would skip class, homework, tests, because I had so much practice at it I really thought that I could skate through college (as a comp sci major) like I skated through High School. I was wrong.
I wish someone really held my feet to the fire to just do the busywork, and develop some self-discipline. An external motivator of cash would have gotten me to do it. Really, the solution would have been to make my schooling tough enough that I couldn't just slide through, that I would actually have to study, but I know that destroys America's "Everyone is equal-and-great" attitude.
English Lit.
In some areas right now they argue you need a PhD to do silicon verification
In my experience, nerdy professors are far worse at spotting fake boobs than your average joe.
That's how they get an "education" in offshore outsourcing.
Table-ized A.I.
That would be silicone verification. I don't believe a degree is required for that. It also happens to be a very hands-on field.
They would be made fun of at school, and systematically taught that they are not as good as the other kids
Well, that's the problem right there. See, we need to teach the Alphas and the Betas to be grateful to the Deltas for doing all the hard work, and teach the Deltas that they're very important and that they should be grateful to the Alphas and the Betas for making all those hard decisions.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
I don't know, society has a way of filtering out people that are destructive or at least finding creative ways to embrace the destructive nature of particular individuals
Where else would we find police and armed forces recruits?
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
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All of this reminds me of one particular day in Poly/Sci when a student who was clearly incapable of following any aspect the lesson, kept interrupting and finally thought he'd be cute and ask the professor, "Why do I need to know this stuff, anyway?"
The prof's response made him an instant hero:
"You don't . . . the world will always need fry cooks. Now get up and leave."
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
> And if you ask me what's more important... well, try to live in a well secured server...
I'm a spambot you insensitive clod!