Bribing Kids to Learn

Students in Africa willing to sit in a little hut for hours just to get learn. 

I recently read an article regarding the Toronto District School Board and their goals of paying needy kids to do well in school. The TDSB has been reaching out to Torontonians via Twitter to start a discussion of whether or not it is a good idea to pay disadvantaged students to attend school, get good grades and spend time mentoring others. Chris Spence, the TDSB’s director of education, tweeted: “Should we pay kids in our more disadvantaged communities to do well in school?"

Is this an April Fool’s joke? I feel like I am being Punk’d right now... Is Ashton Kutcher going to pop out and scare me right now? … Paying underprivileged kids to go to school, am I reading this correctly?

This issue raises a lot of questions for me. To start, how is it determined which kids are eligible for this “reward”? How is it fair to the rest of the students who work hard to get the grades they deserve? If they choose to pay certain kids to succeed, they should pay all the kids. If the kids are so needy to the point that they are unable to focus in school, then perhaps the school should contact Social Services to get governmental help.

I think this is a terrible idea! What this suggests to me is that we bribe students to succeed. Students should go to school just like the rest of us went to school simply because we want to make something of ourselves – to be successful. If students get paid to go to school now, they may expect everything else in life handed to them. What happens, when these students go to College or University and realize that they won’t be spoon fed anymore and that their professors actually do not care about their marks or their attendance for that matter? Will the TDSB be paying for their tuition too?

There are things in life you have to do because it is in your best interest. School is one of these things; you go to school and earn good grades because it will open opportunities for you. This suggested system created by the TDSB will only set these students up for failure in the long run because they will expect everything to be handed to them. If this system is implemented, I am certain that the College/University dropout rate will increase drastically.  

Here is an idea, maybe kids nowadays should learn some responsibility and get part time jobs just like the rest of us did back when we were in school. We don’t ask much from kids other than to go to and school and graduate to get a future so that they are able to support themselves.

Do these students not have the inspiration and common sense to get out of the poverty and situations in which they are living in by going to school? If not then why not educate them? Organize someone to go around these poverty stricken communities and teach students and talk to them about how they can change their lives, how they can improve their lives for the better and how they can contribute to society. Maybe something such as the “Canadian Dream” should be proposed to influence people into working towards a brighter future.

I don’t think people even realize the privileges that are provided to them. I feel ashamed to even think that the TDSB is considering paying students to go to school. What about 3^rd world countries who would love the chance of free education? They pay thousands of dollars to go to school some can’t even afford to go to school and here we are taking advantage and abusing the benefits and opportunities we have.

I can’t believe the insanity that is coming out of the school board! Paying students to get good grades, what’s next? Paying my dog with Kibbles because he didn’t bark today?

I myself am not sold on the idea of paying children to do their duties. Their reward is their education.