Paying kids to stay in school?! You’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me. What a waste of money. At least it isn’t tax dollars, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will be eventually.
Fulton County schools want to pay students to stay in school a little longer.
Forty students from Creekside High and Bear Creek Middle schools in Fairburn will be the first to try the “Learn & Earn” program, where students will get paid to attend after-school tutoring programs.
Students will make approximately $8 an hour, and be eligible for bonuses if their grades improve, said Kirk Wilks, district spokesman. The initial students are in the eighth and 11th grades.
There will be a community kick-off Thursday at 3 p.m. in the Creekside High media center, 7405 Herndon Rd., Fairburn.
With the support of Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, the pilot program will last 15 weeks and pay students for participation and performance. The object of the program is to determine if paying students to study will improve classroom attendance, grades and test scores, according to a news release from the district.
Inserting the voice of sanity: The kids are supposed to be learning! If they aren’t sticking around for tutoring, take it up with their parents. Don’t incentivize what should be mandatory within society.
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WTF! Where the hell were all these handouts when I was a student?
The only reason I am opposed to this is that is looks to me like the blind leading the blind (no pun intended).
What ca-ca! No surprise, then, that it is “[w]ith the support of Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts[.]”
Pitts never met a government payroll or program he didn’t like!
Eventually, all of this handout crap will lead to an Atlas Shrugged type of scenario. It might not happen in our lifetime’s but it will happen, there is no doubt. Those who will produce will leave and the rest who cannot survive on their own will simply cease to be.
Charles Loudermilk, who is footing the bill for this, is a big money Republican.
Hope you don’t need a campaign contribution in the future Eric!
Granted I think this is a rather dumb idea, but isn’t offering incentives and breaks – rather than mandatory regulation – what Republicans love these days?
Man, that’s better than minimum wage!
Sad
A lot of complaining from those assumed to support strong personal property rights and presumably education about a person offering his own funds to try to improve/increase education. It’s extremist to suggest it’s likely to become a public responsibility unless its benefits clearly exceed it’s costs.
“Don’t incentivize what should be mandatory within society.”
You mean, like…health care?
Those who have money have been using it to “incentivize” education forever. This just lets the poorer kids into the “prep school club.”
Good idea.
I also suggest free vasectomies and tubal ligations for rednecks. They should not be mandatory, but if they offered some Redman and a case of PBR or 2, I’m sure there would be whole counties of people in rural Georgia that would offer themselves up to the knife. The Baptist preachers could sell it as a method of stopping abortions, put a little money in their plate and they’ll say anything.
Someone should found a “Free Us From the Plague of Rednecks” foundation. The FUFPR Foundation!
This is the most perverse incentive I can imagine. If you get paid $8/hr. to be a struggling student with low grades, and do NOT get paid to be a decent student who doesn’t need the help… then you’re creating a demand for crappy performance. How many low-income kids are going to be sucker enough to “achieve” their way out of a free paycheck?
White… liberal… patronizing… condescending… DOUCHEBAGS.
Charles Laudermilk, a very successful private sector businessman, decides to write a personal check to incentivize low income kids to study and he is criticized? What a bunch of whiners. These kids he’s trying to help in many cases don’t come from a culture where academic achievement is valued. I’m sure Mr. Laudermilk recognized that the one way he could get past the teacher’s union and encourage pay for performance was to go right to the source, the students, and make it happen. Good for him. If any of the naysayers on this Peach Pundit are doing something more productive than Mr. Laudermilk to make a difference in the lives of students, let’s hear about your positive contribution and how it is working. Better yet, tell Mr. Laudermilk about your much better idea and he might actually fund it. What is it about blogs that encourgage people to tear other down in order make themselves feel more important?
Charles Laudermilk created a major NYSE listed company employing thousands of Georgians and he created it from nothing. I’m sure he didn’t launch this initiative lightly. He knows a little bit about what it takes to motivate people. Since it’s his money, I’m willing to both give him credit and praise him for caring enough to try.
I don’t have a problem with private citizens wasting their money. It’s his money.
I grew up a rather privileged child. I never received monetary compensation for good grades from my parents even. I have heard about my neighbors giving their children money for good grades though. I do not have children, but it seems like a realistic (capitalistic) approach…but the government doing this is outrageous. When I received grades that were less the perfect my father would take me on a drive to Shoreditch and ask if that is where I wanted to live when I reached adulthood. Has this “ghetto” culture socially infiltrated the suburbs so much that the methods of my father would not work in the suburbs of Atlanta? Maybe these kids need uniforms.
Perkins–you aren’t reading very carefully. This program is for all students, to help improve their education, not just struggling students. There is actually an incentive if the students do well. There is no reverse incentive as you so creatively suggest. And this is sponsored by a renowned Republican, not a liberal. Of course, you’re a knee-jerk “conservative” so you have to blame this on the liberals.
And Goldwater, this is a private program! The government isn’t footing the bill.
Ehh, I stand corrected. My impression from coverage of the issue on the radio was that the program was limited to academically struggling students. If it’s open to all students, and does not create reverse incentive, then I by all means support the right of a wealthy private citizen to throw his money away.
As an aside, this is perhaps the first time that I’ve been described on Peach Pundit as a “knee-jerk conservative”. I spend most of my time being criticized by conservatives for being too libertarian. This feels weird.
Steve,
Ask Doug Deal about his experience on RedState when he questioned, oh what was his name? Oh yeah, Fred someboby. Anyway, he questioned this “Fred” person on RedState and almost got assassinated.
I’m perfectly cool with bloggers and their comment’ers taking very hardline positions for or against a candidate or issue. However, what makes a blog community interesting or not is its back-and-forth discussion. If an admin ENFORCES a particular viewpoint on the site… or if the majority just yells bumper-sticker slogans at dissenters rather than debate them on the merits… then the blog will generally suck. RedState is just an echo chamber for people who want to be told how brilliant they are for never thinking… it’s unreadable.
(Granted… Ron Paul supporters can often be even MORE belligerent and mindless. However, I’m not simply referring to just the Ron Paul issue.)
Erick, I’m still confused about your last sentence, especially since I’m familiar with how the brain works. It comes across as “don’t convince people to do what you want them to do,” which is stupid.
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