Money Talks

I love to read. I guess you could say that I am a voracious reader. I read everything and anything much to the chagrin of some of my friends and colleagues. I'm of the opinion that you really can't offer constructive criticism if you haven't read the document. Or better yet, reading everything I get my hands on, ok I don't read playboy, makes me a bit more knowledgeable. Correct? I also love school. Ok, I didn't always like it but I liked it more than my peers did. Much of this love for reading and school was influenced by my parents. For goodness sake my dad use to read the dictionary for fun. I learned how to work my first crossword puzzle at the urging of my dad. We all learned to appreciate the written word and the spoken word. I continue to love school and love to be in the classroom.

So what happened to the influence of parents? What happened to urging your kids to do well, go to school on time, read a book? Well it seems that once again parents are being absolved of their responsibilities and are now being offered money to do what they should do without encouragement from government or private organizations. Yes, we are now going to pay parents and our children to do the right thing. And of course the "experiement" is targeting black and Hispanic children and their parents. The mayor and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein seem to be enamored with economist and proffesor from Harvard, Ronald G. Fryer's idea of offering money to kids who do well on tests. He has now been named "chief equality officer." The question is, will he be paid for his role?

Here are a couple of reasons why I think this is a bad idea. First, you don't give money to people to do the right thing. How did being a responsible parent give way to the notion that in order for you to do the right thing you should be paid for it? If that were the case I should be a millionare by now just for going to to work on time. Second, you don't "influence behavior" (read be a good girl) by paying someone to behave. This is like Pavlov's dog experiement. Is there long time change other than at the sound of a bell he sits up and repeats the same behavior as before? Third, this idea reinforces the notion that blacks can only get ahead or at minimum, be able to be responsible citizens if and only if they receive help, i.e. affirmative action. In two years I would like to see the results of this bogus experiment. Here is the article in it's entirety.