![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/\nperfatten.jpg\")
CHELSEA — The high school here will try a new way
\n this fall to make students show up for school: Pay them.<\/p>\n
Under a privately funded program, students will get up to $125 a year for
\n perfect attendance all year, as long as they graduate. They have the chance
\n to get up to $500 for a four-year string of zero absences.<\/p>\n
Educators across the state praised Chelsea for its boldness, but said they
\n worry about the message the 1,430-student school is sending by paying students
\n for something they should do anyway. By law, students must stay in school
\n until they are 16.<\/p>\n
In neighboring Revere, officials considered giving $10 to high school students
\n to attend Saturday school. But Superintendent Paul Dakin said the recordkeeping
\n problems and philosophical questions doomed the idea.<\/p>\n
Is this an idea worth considering? Although paying First of all, giving kids a cash bonus for perfect It is in the interest of our economy to It would certainly be cost-effective if it keeps A good example of thinking outside the box…<\/em><\/p>\n from the Boston Globe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHELSEA — The high school here will try a new way this fall to make students show up for school: Pay them. Under a privately funded program, students will get up to $125 a year for perfect attendance all year, … Continue reading
\n for students to go to school may seem ridiculous and wrong-headed at
\n first
\n glance, on closer examination it can be seen to have numerous social
\n and economic benefits.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n attendance is hardly rewarding them for something they should do anyway. All
\n kids are allowed to miss a certain number of sick days, families take
\n vacations, etc. On the other hand, it is hard to justify denying
\n the bonus to a kid who just get sick through no fault of his or her own.
\n So we would argue that it may make sense to straight out pay kids
\n an hourly wage to go to school.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n have educated workers, and keeping more
\n students
\n in
\n school
\n through
\n graduation
\n will
\n produce more and better educated workers. Furthermore, Chelsea is one
\n of the poorest and most minority-heavy (Hispanic, mostly) districts
\n in the state, and Hispanics have the highest drop-out rate among ethnic
\n groups – over 50%. The schools lose these kids to the gangs, and in
\n many
\n cases to the necessity of supporting their families and sending money
\n back to extended family abroad. If paying them would keep them
\n in school, would that not lead to minority advancement, get more people
\n off of welfare, keep kids out of gangs, lower the crime rate and improve
\n the quality of community life?<\/em><\/p>\n
\n more kids off of the streets, lowers unemployment and the kind of drug
\n and
\n crime related activities kids get involved in when they aren’t in school.
\n It would give them a sense of self-respect, teach them to manage money,
\n get them used to the basic economic paradigm which is going to dominate
\n the rest of their lives, and allow them to be more active participants
\n in our wonderful consumer paradise. In a way, it is the same argument
\n as that if favor of allowing colleges to
\n pay
\n varsity
\n athletes
\n in big-time
\n sports
\n like
\n football
\n and
\n basketball,
\n to keep them from turning pro at 18 or 19.<\/em><\/p>\n