Re: NY Times editorial in FAVOR of paying kids for tests?

["ElsaHaas" <ElsaHaas@si.rr.com>]

When I described the program in NYC (which includes payment for perfect or
near-perfect attendance - I forget which) to my husband (a district manager
for a large corporation), he immediately predicted that some parents would
be sending their kids to school sick. 

That's just one immediate, obvious potential problem, easily recognizable by
somebody who is spends much of the day in the corporate mindset. Poor and
middle-class people already feel pressure to send their kids to school sick,
because the parents have to work - how about when their KIDS' paid work
becomes getting to school every day?

Then there's the whole, more complex issue of what you do to a kid's
intrinsic motivation when you bribe him/her - somebody else on this list has
probably already mentioned the books by Alfie Kohn that address that (I
haven't been reading all the posts).   

Elsa Haas

-----Original Message-----
From: arn-l-owner@interversity.org [mailto:arn-l-owner@interversity.org] On
Behalf Of MONICALUCIDO@comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 7:38 PM

And so I say to you all, and I believe this is a legit argument, does this
not start to skirt on the edges of child labor laws? [...] Kids, who then
relied on the money over the years for their families, could then be
threatened in the negative: "Get your scores up, or you will not get your
'pay check'." This is a highly likely circumstance and the pressure on
children would become enormous not only for learning, but for family
survival in some cases. [...]

Joe Lucido
Eduators and Parents Against Test Abuse
Fresno