Editorial: Stay in school and win a car

Friday, Dec. 9, 2005 | 8:13 a.m.

Gold stars just don't cut it anymore when it comes to motivating children to attend school. Today's perfect attendance record is inspired by the chance of winning an iPod, a laptop computer or a car.

A Connecticut fourth grader won a car for his perfect attendance last year -- a reward the 9-year-old exchanged for $10,000 that he is saving for college.

At California's South Lake Tahoe High School this year, students who exhibit exemplary attendance and maintain a 2.0 grade point average have the chance of winning a Toyota Matrix valued at $18,000, among other prizes.

It's enough to make a kid weep on a sick day and make adults wonder why we have started paying our children to go to school.

For the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, improved student attendance also means more money for the district, Superintendent James Tarwater told the Tahoe Daily Tribune. The district receives an extra $200,000 in state funds for every percentage point that attendance increases. The district's attendance record last year was 92.7 percent, which is akin to each student missing 13 days of school, Tarwater said. It is improving this year.

Students receive raffle tickets based on the number of weeks they exhibit full attendance, with exceptions for bereavement, school activities and court dates. More tickets mean more chances to win. Prizes are purchased by parent fundraising groups or donated.

But a car?

We fear the actual lesson being taught by this practice has less to do with discipline and educational values and more to do with material ones.