The other day I posted a note about a program that the Georgia public schools plan to try to increase the classroom performance of their students, that of paying them $8.00 per hour to study. Well, guess what? In my area of Connecticut, that is the same wage rate as a cashier at the local supermarket. Noticing this, I began to muse about some of the particulars of the Georgia plan:
- will the students who participate in the “study for money” program get a weekly “paycheck” from the program sponsor?
- will the students’ “paycheck” be subject to payroll taxes?
- will the students be considered recipients of a “welfare” program, recipients of a grant, or will they be defined in some other way?
- will the program be staffed with monitors to ensure that studying is actually occurring or will the students be on the “honor” system? And if monitors are supplied, who pays for them --- the public school or the program sponsor?
- does the program have any criteria for disqualification, such as a minimum GPA that must be maintained?
Oh, and one other piece of information that may interest my readers: minimum wage in Georgia is $5.65 per hour, so the students who participate in the “Learn & Earn” program will be making 137% of minimum wage. The equivalent rate in Connecticut would be $10.46 per hour...for students to be doing what they are supposed to be doing --- studying.
Just a few thoughts that crossed my mind on the way home from the grocery store.
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