The Green for Grade$ Program...are we bribing our kids to learn?

Good Morning America had a segment earlier this week about a program that has been started in Chicago by The Paper Project, which was created by the Education Innovation Laboratory at Harvard University. Students earn $50 for each "A", $35 for each "B" and $20 for each "C", giving a "straight-A" student the chance to earn $ 4,000 during a two year period. The program focuses on the first two years of school, when the possiblity of dropping out is the highest. During the junior and senior years of high school, the students are given support in the areas of career and college, aimed at forging a path for the students to meet their academic goals. The student is awarded half the money up front during the freshman and sophmore years and the rest is received upon graduation from high school. Students are encouraged to open bank accounts and the money is direct deposited, with the idea of helping foster financial responsibility. The money is NOT paid by the school; private donors sponsor the program.

While I like the idea of rewarding good grades, I wonder...is cash necessarily the best policy? Should a school be involved in paying a student to do what is, essentially, their "job"? While low-income, high risk students are the primary purpose of "Green for Grade$" and I understand that we must make an every effort to help these young people meet their goals, I guestion the choice of monetary compensation for doing well, or even average, in school. In America, because we are so fortunate to have the chance to learn, we often forget that in some parts of the world, an education is a privilege. The chance to learn, socialize with fellow students, and following the rites of passage into young adulthood should be enough for young people. I remember receiving Certificates of Achievement in school for good grades or excelling in a certain subject and feeling proud of my accomplishment. I don't recall ever thinking, "Man, I should get 500 dollars for making the A honor roll."

Perhaps giving students tickets for movies, concerts or sports events (donated, of course) or downloading 5 or 10 songs from a music provider who would work in tandem with such a program could be enough. Or even, as a friend suggested, points to buy things in the school store could also be a possibility. The more I think about it, however, I think it seems we are bribing our kids with money to do things they SHOULD ALREADY BE DOING. Young people can make it out of their particular situations without educators dangling a carrot of cold, hard cash to entice them into meeting their responsibility...to LEARN.

Today's world is already hyper-focused on money. We get it, we spend it and we want and work excessively for more of it. And in this climate of excess, a lot of kids are growing up with a sense of entitlement....they think they should be able to have all they want without the blood, sweat and tears of working for it. Are we setting up a generation of children who think they are owed for all that they find work-oriented? Leave the money making to the "real" world. The true currency of high school is knowledge. I think an education is payment enough.