newly ancient

As I have pointed out before, paying for good grades is not an acceptable method of encouraging education. It makes the idea of learning become something akin to a job… that you are providing the system with a service which you receive compensation for. In reality, the opposite is true. The system provides you with knowledge, and you (often) return it with work or (outside of public school) payment. What will these students think when they reach higher grades where they are expected to do work for its own sake? Well, Stephen Colbert certainly didn’t miss this opportunity for a laugh. He certainly makes Chancellor Klein’s payment plan seem rather ridiculous:

Everything done in school should be done for the sake of furthering a student’s learning. Anything that doesn’t do so, should be eliminated - not compensated for. Money is the wrong solution to this. It teaches students to rely upon the gift of the government and does not foster a sense of life long (or even year long) learning.

School is not a job. In a job, you provide a service and are compensated for it. Instead, school is more like the local health club - you pay your dues (taxes) and go there to work (school work). The eventual gain is a healthier body, just as in schools the eventual gain is an education. It would seem incredibly ridiculous for the health club to pay you to better yourself, so why should it be accepted in schools? Leave rewarding to parents…