They're Paying for What, Now?

The D.C. Public Schools has begun a social experiment: they are paying middle schoolers to get good grades.

At a conference in Colorado last week, the Chancellor Michelle Rhee was attacked by an upset participant with the comment, "It's a sad day when we are paying kids to be doing something they should be doing anyway." He had a point.

But she has a point, too: "Yesterday was a sad day, when only 8 percent of our eighth-graders were at grade level for math, and we weren't really doing anything about it."

I certainly get the sense of urgency. Someone had to take drastic measures to start turning the system around. But it shouldn't have come to this. Consider the message she has sent to thousands of students in the D.C. public schools:

"We don't think you'll ever be able to do well unless we bribe you."

One of my core beliefs is that all children can, and want to, do well. That innate ability and desire is often buried deep. It is our job as educators to find it, and unlock it. Having the government officially pay for grades will certainly get short-term results. But the long-term consequences could be horrendous. What if the D.C. Public School System never gets past the short-term stimulus of grade payments - what if this works, and becomes an excuse not to do the real work of education?

I have yet to hear Chancellor Rhee genuinely address the moral and ethical dangers of her plan. I can only hope she will do so before it's too late.