Issue 639 Pay the kids! July 22, 2015

I really mean pay kids.  In this case, for what they do in school.  There are three areas where I think they should be paid.  So let us discuss.

Sports:  At the high school level, sports become very competitive and can be a money maker for schools (same with colleges too).  As such, let these kids get a cut for entertaining us.  It allows them to make money that can go toward college, or other activities these kids may want to partake in.  It can also help poorer communities by allowing poor students who otherwise would not be able to afford to go on school trips or afford school lunches to have money to pay their way rather than having their parent(s) scrounge around for money.  It also adds a level of professionalism that these students will need when they enter the real working world.

Tutoring:  All kids who tutor other kids through the school should be paid a wage.  Let's face it, tutoring is hard work (well depends on who your tutoring), and the teachers cannot be there for all students.  So the kids can handle the tutoring for the teachers as the information is fresh in the student's head and they can relate to any issues with learning the problem or piece of information.  Thus they are better equipped to teach their fellow students if they have recently learned it themselves.  So for helping with homework and studying can be one fee.  Editing papers and even grading their fellow students on the teacher's behalf can be another.  Also, this experience allows students to develop social skills, conversation skills, and information transfer skills.

Economic Rewards:  Students should be rewarded for their performance.  So when they do well in class, they could get money as a prize based on how well they do in a test or quiz.  If they are a tutor to their fellow students, then if that student scores well or has an improvement, that tutor can be further rewarded.  Basically, reward them with money for doing well.

Conclusion:  In case you haven't noticed, I cover the sports kids and the academic kids.  This ensures that a vast majority of students can have access to earning more money outside of simply rewarding them for good grades.  Also, non-sports clubs like chess can make money in the sports area for winning contests.  If there is a school garden, then they can sell some of the flowers to make a money too.  Sure most of the money will go to the school, but with this scheme, you get students motivated to get into clubs, into tutoring and into their academics.  Yes it is controversial, but, unconventional approaches are what make the world work.  So what's not to try?