Bribing U
If teachers want to get you read better…they’ve got to bribe you.
According to Education Week, if schools give you rewards like cash, MP3 players, or other gifts reading skills go up.
A research project from Stanford University found that while students’ reading gets better, gifts won’t improve your math score. So you can’t score extra gifts there.
Now a growing number of school districts around the nation are experimenting with rewards in hopes of improving students learning and behavior. The analysis suggests that incentive programs may be a cost-effective way to help raise achievement.
And the gifts are really working. Students have gained an average of 4 percentile points on standardized state reading tests for each year they participate in an awards program.
The study was based on a survey of 250 charter schools. 186 schools used a rewards program and most schools who gave gifts found an improvement—not just in academics but also in student behavior. Students spoke more respectfully and accepted direction and instruction better.
Some of the gifts even include a college-fund contribution.
But this is the thing, do gifts really make you a better student and a better person…or are you just behaving nicely to get what you want. Does this send students the wrong message? Does this let students run the show? And what kinds of messages about human decency are we sending?
And one more thing. Can someone say Pavlov Dog?
This entry was posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 2:56 pm and is filed under What's Hot. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
