Follow up ...

to my little rant the other day on grading kindergarten students where I basically said, "you have to be kidding me." Yesterday, my friend and resident education expert extraordinaire, Timera, decided to stop by and pull out her Euphonic soapbox. What ensued was a very interesting take on the pressure being put on students today. Other than pushing for smaller class size, which I fully agree with, she drops this little diddy on us:

Well, sometimes the adults just have to step back, let the kids take control, and see what happens. They can surprise us sometimes. Quit raising the standards, quit scaring them with all the commotion about standardized testing, and for God's sake, make it interesting! They don't need the real world yet; that's why they are kids! We can prepare them for the real world without emotionally and psychologically scarring them from a young age.

When I said "come on" that's what I really meant!!! Thanks for laying out my thoughts in a much clearer fashion. .

So what about this technique (via the gentlemen over at Marginal Revolution)? I might argue that the money would be better spent on smaller class size, but if that can't/won't happen, then why not try this? I didn't receive money for grades when I grew up, and still managed pretty good grades. I also had a great support system at home. For those that don't have that support system, a little extra incentive might be a good thing. Maybe it will prove to schoolchildren that making money legitimately is better than other means. It will be interesting to see what the study concludes. I will keep you all posted.