D.C. Schools to Pay Some Students

Fourteen middle schools in the D.C. area will be paying students up to $100 every two weeks. The criteria:

Attendance
Behavior
Academic Performance

The program costs, $2.7 million, will be split between D.C. and Harvard University.

The trend seems to be sweeping across the country. Five states experimenting with cash-for-grades programs.

I once read a story about Ivana Trump. She described how when she was young and not working very hard in school, her father sent her to work in a shoe factory that he owned. It did not take long for her to decide to return to school and do well.

The tax payers in D.C. are paying about $24,600 per pupil, per year for students in public schools, which is more than twice as much as the average private school tuition in the area. If students are not working hard, and especially if they are misbehaving, maybe they should be required to do some work service, perhaps with the Conservation Corps, or picking up litter around the monuments, raking leaves in the parks, etc. to earn a minimum wage. I bet it wouldn't be long before they wanted to return to school.