Middle school pay idea - Gimmick or Game-changing?

[Anonymous]

What do people think? Clearly it's a short-term experiment with cash (and caché?) from Harvard.

But is it just me, or does this sound a bit more like Fenty's tendancy to emulate NYC's Bloomberg (not always a bad thing) more than Rhee's plans? Just curious if anyone thinks this is mostly politics/PR (i.e. Fenty-driven) or a significant part of Rhee's plans. No surprise that I think the former, but really interested in other DCPS parents' thoughts here.

In general Rhee is winning me over to her approach, but must we introduce yet another lottery into the system?!?

[Anonymous]

It's the reality-TV-ification of every aspect of our lives.

Why are my tax dollars being used like this to reward what should be normative behavior? What's next, giving a 2nd grader a five-spot every time he raises his hand properly?

But I do think this might work in the short-term.

[Anonymous]

I couldn't believe this scheme (or should I say scam) when I heard it on the radio this morning. When I was in middle school, if I was going to get $200 per month to show up, be quiet and do homework I would have been estatic. As it was, I was expected to do all those things for FREE. Kids these days don't know how good they have it.