$35ucks for Gr$50des

Blogs I read:
http://ci335edtech.blogspot.com/
http://rachelsedreflections.blogspot.com/
http://johnlundy.blogspot.com/

I chose these three blogs to respond to because they all present different opinions program presented in the Chicago Tribune article. We have the supporter (Melissa), the detractor (Rachel), and the not sure yet-er (John).

In Melissa's blog, she talks about how she loves the idea of giving positive reinforcement to students who perform well in school. By giving non-tax payer money to students who get high grades, they will want to get good grades. By only getting half up front and the other half after they graduate, they will want to keep up in school so they can get all of their hard earned cash. She also believes that this program will make students more attentive and motivated in the classroom, thus making the teachers' jobs easier. Melissa also suggests that they can improve the program by having local banks offer incentives to students to save their money. This would then give students the desire to do well in school and graduate as well as teach them good monetary skills.

Rachel doesn't see this through such glass-half-full eyes. She brings up several good points critiquing the program. First, she talks about how the students could quite possibly spend the money on less fruitful things, i.e. drugs, alcohol, and guns. Next, Rachel discusses how the money would be better served by giving it to the school rather than the students. By doing so, they can improve the environment for all students and thus improving the education for all students and easing teachers' lives at school. Lastly, she brings up that this program isn't the answer. What is needed is a change of attitude. That way students would want to learn for learning's sake and would give them good work ethics for the rest of their lives.

John essentially combined these two arguments to express his views. He likes how this program will increase students' motivation for school but could decrease it intrinsic motivation down the line. He likes how the program makes grades rise but not that it could make grades fall once incentives are taken away. John remains skeptical. He would like to see the effects of this program on students once they have been out of high school or college for a few years.

As for me, my position closely resembles John's. I think this program could work, but, like most things, probably won't turn out like how it's planned. I would like to see more statistics first on what/how students do once the program is over. If studies show that students continue their strong work ethic once they finish high school, then I'll hop aboard the bandwagon.

The principle of this program, however, is the important part. Teachers should use positive reinforcement in one way or another in their classroom to help motivate students when their intrinsic motivation is lacking. When I get my own classroom in a couple years, I plan on doing this. How exactly I implement this is still up in the air. I haven't figured it out yet. In the meantime, I'll just wish that my parents offered me this when I was younger.