I wanted to keep the discussion going on education—tagging on to last week’s topic—since we all have such differing opinions on what we need to do in this area.  I happened to watch the CNN special Black in America last week, and it had a fascinating piece on an unusual plan to improve student achievement in New York City’s education system.

A Harvard professor, Roland Fryer, came up with an innovative and controversial plan to pay students for their achievement.  The premise is that if they do well on tests they get actual money in their bank accounts.  Fryer puts up the money for this plan, which he refers to with the unfortunate word “incentivizing.”

CNN interviewed a couple of fifth graders in the program and asked them if they felt it was lowering their motivation to learn. The two kids emphatically disagreed, saying it actually motivated them because they could use the money for things they needed.  Among those things were household bills (they all come from poor families in Harlem) and college savings.

Fryer said kids need to be able to make the connection between education and making money, and learn that the more education they have, the more money they can make.  He pointed out that kids from poor families don’t have the lawyer uncle or doctor father to make that connection themselves.  They don’t see successful, educated people in their neighborhoods. By paying them, schools can teach them that 1+1=2. 

He said he knew it would be controversial and that there would be critics. And he maintains that he has no idea if it will actually work. But he said he felt he had to try something new because what we are doing now is not working. 

Watching this experiment unfold on the Black in America segment, I first thought it would never work.  But hearing him explain that he was once one of those kids himself put it in a new perspective. Fryer came from a broken family and sold drugs himself, then made a change.  He became the first person in his family to graduate from college and even further, he went on to become a college professor. I give him all the credit in the world for trying something new that doesn’t drastically change things or put teachers, students or parents through any new hoops.  He is putting his money where his mouth is, literally, and going right to the students. 

I am going to keep an eye on this project because I think what our school system needs is innovation—and Professor Fryer is showing it right here. It should be a real wake-up call that we need to think outside the box when it comes to our kids’ futures