Children should be Paid to Go to School

[Blind Guardian the 2nd]

AsuraSyn

How many doctorates are working in McDonalds' right now?
Education isn't necessary to contribute to society, nor to become wealthy or well rounded. Granted it often helps, but it is not fundamentally essential. School, however, is compulsory until you graduate high school. When people are forced to do something they find unpleasant, or forced to do so to avoid punishment, they often, if not always, scrape by with the minimum needed to escape it and thus gain little, if anything, from the experience.
To improve education you must improve the child's view of it. Moreover, I love the idiots talking about how this is being "privileged" or "spoiled". When, exactly, did a days wage for a day's work become "privileged"?

Um, probably a few in their head offices, but otherwise very little. People with doctorates aren't as out of work as you might think, as if they're willing to move abroad, there is a large demand for their expertise, especially in the education system of developing nations.

Not all education is necessary to contribute to society. However, as our economy is one focused on semantic labour (i.e. the ability to follow instructions from other people or texts), it means one can rarely work without the ability to read, write and speak a language. THAT needs education, and undeniably so.

I was forced to go to school. I gained plenty of information. The idea that being forced to do something prevents any value being derived from it is entirely false; conscripts become career soldiers, school children become teachers, convicts become reformed citizens.

Improving the child's view of education is the responsibility of the teacher. Finding a way to kindle someone's learning is the duty of the scholar, to show their students why knowledge is worth having, should not be left to a salary implemented by the taxpayer.

A wage for work is not privileged. Yet unless schoolchildren start producing work, rather than LEARNING, they should not be paid. We have children in school because they are not supposed to be working yet; they need to learn. Gone are the days of kids in the coal pit.

[Blind Guardian the 2nd]

Old Blue Collar Joe

Unions were good. Now they are nothing more than political action committees.

Unions are necessary to stop the abuse of workers by private and state institutions. Not everyone can be self-employed, and nor should they be.

[Ryu Kei Shou Kawazu]

Michael Noire

http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/02/13/cincinnati-high-school-paying-students-to-come-to-school/

So in one school, they started paying kids with small sums of money and gift cards for good attendance. I read the responses of parents and other citizens and found the average American hates this idea - in one scenario punitive measures against the parents - sending parents to jail for a day was one of the proposed alternatives. While this happened in Cincinnati, in Chicago, another school was met with outrage for doing exactly the opposite - fining children $5 for landing themselves in detention.

Now here's the reality of Economics and Free Market theory:

Children respond to payment - they do not respond to punishment. Children growing up in a society where they are being punished associate the punishment with their parents. The problem is Children are very clever - and unless their parents have a stellar track record - which most do not - the children consider the parents to be unqualified moral and legal authorities. Meanwhile, children associate gifts and cash flow with success and holiday super heroes like an Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, or some headless pumpkin guy who forces strangers to give them snacks - in other words, getting stuff is cool, earning stuff is cool, and money is cool, and acts like it's own incentive.

Where this system fails, it also costs the school NOTHING. It's a logic even a child can understand. The punishment for failing attendance is NOT GETTING FREE MONEY. In the grander scheme of things, this system should be expanded all the way through grad school. As it is, Many grad students get their loans expunged and many even get paid for grad school while learning to become professors or other professionals as interns. Old apprenticeships worked this way.

I've also had the opportunity to observe college students both at community, four year public, four year private, and private universities with graduate schools in three different states. I found the students who managed to do well had a higher proportion of cash returns for attendance compared to their base incomes, while those who dropped out often did so for financial reasons, and those who could not make it the first time failed to secure more than an initial semester's worth of income.

Put another way - community college students who could use the grant money toward things like rent or purchasing power took college more seriously and studied harder, while students who didn't have a financial incentive - such as having parents pay for everything but also getting nothing in return - felt less connected to the institution and their studies. Wealthy students who received greater rewards for performance also tended to outperform those who were allowed to merely "coast along".

In reality, a job is a place where you go and do things you may or may not enjoy, but you tend to go because you get paid in one way or another. By treating the bulk of education as a job, we can cultivate a work ethic and inspire people to increase their skills set.


After thoughts,
This is no different psychologically from the Room and Board apprenticeships, the men seeking the dowry of the wives, the potential brides seeking to achieve the best mate, or even the teenager or youth who expects a car upon graduation.

Hard asses will claim they walked on water uphill both ways through the snow to get to school and liked it, but we all know those people are full of s**t.

Not necesarily full of s**t. If they went 5 miles to the nearest school back in the day without public transportation, and it was snowing like a b***h, they would have to still get there, and trust me, a choice between education with peers or staying home alone twiddling your thumbs, they would choose the school.

[Old Blue Collar Joe]

Blind Guardian the 2nd

Old Blue Collar Joe

Unions were good. Now they are nothing more than political action committees.

Unions are necessary to stop the abuse of workers by private and state institutions. Not everyone can be self-employed, and nor should they be.

Been in unions, and they are predominately s**t and lap dogs of their political master. What SHOULD be done is a vote is taken, closed ballot, and if 30% of the vote is to support republicans, then any donations must be split in that manner.
Reality is, they shouldn't (nor should companies) be allowed to donate to PAC's.

[The20]

Michael Noire

The problem is Children are very clever

No, the problem is they think they are clever.

[Miss-dark8607]

Oiena

I think college should be free. Is that like the same thing?

Agreed the whole college system needs a ******** revamp especially the community college system. I shouldn't re-take the same classes I just had in K-12 it's pointless. Either I got algebra or I didn't. As a preschool teacher I will rarely if ever need it... same for most sciences. While my English is still in need for improvement (with me being an ESL'er) its more than handy enough for me to get work. And the textbooks scam needs to die as well.

Back to the topic yeah its not really a great idea paying students no matter what age for such things. I don't like the concept as all it teaches kids is that you should only do positive things for money. Which isn't really a great concept since that pretty much kills the idea about teaching activism and volunteerism to students.