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orichalcum at 02:29pm on 15/10/2007 under education
orichalcum at 02:29pm on 15/10/2007 under educationSo, the NYC public school system is using a new pilot system in which high school students who get a 5 on an AP Exam will win $1000, $750 for a 4, and $500 for a 3. They're starting it out in several low-income, dominantly minority schools, but plan to expand it if it proves successful.
I'm curious as to people's reactions, because I have really mixed feelings about this (and not just because, gee, $11,500 would have been nice when I was 17. Heck, I wouldn't sneer at it now.) Incentives that push students to take more challenging courses and stretch themselves are really good things. It's hard to convince teenagers that yes, being prepared for college and getting into as good a college a possible for you really does matter in the rest of your life, whereas cash is easily understood. Some of the proponents argue that this might enable students to spend time studying rather than working an afterschool job.
That said, it's a big gamble for those students. What essay you happen to get on an AP Exam can make a tremendous difference in your score, and all the cramming in the world sometimes doesn't matter. Also, to a certain degree you're rewarding test-taking skills, not hard work and intelligence. Lots of folks are much better at dealing with the stress and intensity of a 3-hour exam than others, and paying you for that when there are already other rewards associated with it seems like adding insult to injury.
As with any high-stakes gamble, it seems like it would also encourage cheating of various sorts. My high school teacher, who was terrific, was one of the teachers who wrote the A.P. U..S. History exam every year. She never told us what was going to be on it, of course, yet somehow, we were always especially well prepared for the essay questions that year. Our class consistently scored higher than the other A.P. U.S. History class. Maybe that's because we were in the top track and better students, but maybe not. I had to take my A.P. Biology exam late and on a typewriter because I had gotten strep throat and sliced my finger open two days before the exam. I took it in a small office room, alone. I could easily have cheated, although I didn't.
So, what do you think? Would you have taken more A.P.s or studied harder if you were getting money for it? Is this a slippery slope?
I'm curious as to people's reactions, because I have really mixed feelings about this (and not just because, gee, $11,500 would have been nice when I was 17. Heck, I wouldn't sneer at it now.) Incentives that push students to take more challenging courses and stretch themselves are really good things. It's hard to convince teenagers that yes, being prepared for college and getting into as good a college a possible for you really does matter in the rest of your life, whereas cash is easily understood. Some of the proponents argue that this might enable students to spend time studying rather than working an afterschool job.
That said, it's a big gamble for those students. What essay you happen to get on an AP Exam can make a tremendous difference in your score, and all the cramming in the world sometimes doesn't matter. Also, to a certain degree you're rewarding test-taking skills, not hard work and intelligence. Lots of folks are much better at dealing with the stress and intensity of a 3-hour exam than others, and paying you for that when there are already other rewards associated with it seems like adding insult to injury.
As with any high-stakes gamble, it seems like it would also encourage cheating of various sorts. My high school teacher, who was terrific, was one of the teachers who wrote the A.P. U..S. History exam every year. She never told us what was going to be on it, of course, yet somehow, we were always especially well prepared for the essay questions that year. Our class consistently scored higher than the other A.P. U.S. History class. Maybe that's because we were in the top track and better students, but maybe not. I had to take my A.P. Biology exam late and on a typewriter because I had gotten strep throat and sliced my finger open two days before the exam. I took it in a small office room, alone. I could easily have cheated, although I didn't.
So, what do you think? Would you have taken more A.P.s or studied harder if you were getting money for it? Is this a slippery slope?
tired
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