School

1. Bribe them ... oh I mean offer a reward to learn [Roland Fryer]. Paying for good grades 50 bucks for an A per 5 weeks per class. Great guy. What a stupid idea. Its not that I dont think it will work. Because lets face it, money makes things happen.

A physical reward for EVERYTHING is not something we should teach our kids. What if the reward (learning for example) ceases to be the worthy? What new innovation will have to be created? Perhaps an app from the Apple store? Maybe a discount on car insurance (oops already done). Maybe entrance into college? or the fast lane to a well paying job? damn and damn.
College's look at grades ... sort of. well paying jobs look have standards as well but I am pretty sure they are as rigorous as a university entrance exam.

Maybe you noticed my sarcasm. Please Reread. Oh ... you want a reward for reading this far. Here you ...
Sucker. Made you read.

2. Selling advertisements on exams and quizzes to pay for the copy paper its printed on. Ingenius. How is it that most people bitch and moan about taxes, but are able to donate countless dollars to charities such as schools. At this rate, after paying taxes, after paying insurance, I will need to pay a fee for
A. registering my kid to go to school
B. calculators and computers
C. fundraising for the school
D. sports equipment
E. test paper and ink
F. books
G. bribing the kids to learn

so where does the money go that we already pay?

Its true. Kids have 1 job. It is not:
1. babysitting the family
2. playing video games
3. talking on the phone
4. facebooking, myspacing, or bullying

Its going to school and learning. Learning all about the world in which we live. How it works. Whats been done before. where we can gofrom here. what we know, what we dont know but want to know.

10,000 hours is what it takes to become an expert on something or so I havent read yet.
12 grades X 180 days X 6 hours/day = 12960 hours.

Showing up and staring at T & A, or the wall or the floor really doesnt do it. It takes work, effort, motivation and FAILURE. This is where the reward system may work. Not getting the A means no reward. A punishment for not getting an A. But the reward is in accomplishment, in knowing that you were challenged, and exceeding that challenge.

its the feeling often felt as a child when you do the monkeybars for the first time. or go down the slide by yourself. Confidence. If we associate this feeling with money, and then we teach our kids this association, we will miss confidence. This is something I have seen more of in recent years when I taught. lack of confidenceand accomplishment. The previous learning came easy tothem. they forgot how to recognize and overcome a challenge because they had no confidence or worse ... fake confidence.