Enoch subscribes to Business Week magazine and came across this editorial piece the other day. Yes, it is written by Newt Gingrich. But give it a look.
Because I work with adolescents almost every day, I was very much struck by his message. There are ideas that he really needs to flesh out with more detail and development and points not made as clearly as I would like, but it did make me pause and think about how relevant, in many ways, his premise is.
I am planning to use this with my AP classes to do some discussion. I already gave it to a couple of my newspaper students as a way to gauge student response. The two who read it were loudly opposed to the idea—which I also found fascinating. "We shouldn't get paid for going to school!" they practically yelled at me. But they are not the average, run-of-the-mill adolescents either. But what is average anyway?
What do you think?
3 comments:
It's actually being done here... there is quite alot being written in the Washington Post about the issues, if you want to search their archives for more, including a counter point.
What an interesting article. You know, if I had been given the option of graduating early, a year or even two, and then be given the money it cost to educate me to go towards college, you better believe I would have graduated early! What an interesting incentive!
I acctually saw a piece on the Steven Colbert show where he interviewed someone( can't remember who) about this exact same thing. I have mixed feelings however, I do think that if we can just get some kids to graduate from high school, then maybe they will be mature enough to make it in "real" life. Money talks. However, who are we rewarding here? They certainly are not paying kids in the in the plains states to get good grades.
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