In The New Dare to Discipline, his book on child-rearing, James Dobson (yes, that James Dobson—read the book before you judge it by its author) discusses how children respond to positive reinforcement and incentives. Paying them to do extra chores teaches them the value of work and the virtues of spending wisely. It is also important, he contends, to give positive reinforcement sooner rather than later. There is little benefit in telling a small child that if he cleans up his room today you will take him to the pool next summer. Reward promptly.
The D.C. school system seems to be taking that lesson to heart with its new Capital Gains program offering financial incentives for academic performance. And it seems to be working:
Students have been buzzing about the pilot program, called Capital Gains, since they learned in late August that their school had been selected. The school now includes students from Shaw, which closed in June.
Some have already identified the weaknesses they’ll need to correct in order to cash in. Jai Carson, 13, said he’ll need to focus more on his eighth-grade history class. Dominique Watson, also 13 and an eighth-grader, said she’ll have to cut down on the classroom banter.
“Personally, for me, I like to talk a lot,” she said. “So I’ll have to kind of tone that down.”
Capital Gains is the creation of Roland G. Fryer Jr., a Harvard University economist and principal investigator for the university’s American Inequality Lab, which studies issues of poverty and race. Fryer is searching for ways to close the academic achievement gap that separates white and minority children. . . .
Telling kids that studying now might help them earn a promotion three decades from now seems rather abstract. Telling them they can earn $100 in a couple of weeks makes the moral immediate.
Bob Rayner
September 29, 2008 5:10 PM
Every passing day adds to the evidence that John McCain should have gone South for his running mate — and chosen Rep. Eric Cantor, a Richmond real-estate lawyer who has the expertise and the political savvy to help keep Republicans competitive in a race that’s looking very tough to win right now. Cantor has been the one star on Capitol Hill in the past week, and his critique of Speaker Pelosi’s performance so far warmed the hearts of the reasonable and compassionate all across this still great land of ours.
Bart Hinkle
September 29, 2008 1:28 PM
The New Yorker parachutes into Virginia for some observations about Obama’s chances in Appalachia:
After Obama’s appearance, I left Lebanon and drove into the Shenandoah Valley, to Roanoke, for a visit with a man who has made a profession of selling Democrats to rural Virginians. David (Mudcat) Saunders has been called the Democrats’ “Bubba coordinator,” the embodiment of the Party’s faint but growing recognition that its alienation of rural white men is both unnecessary and costly. Saunders, who is fifty-nine, is an exaggerated version of an élitist liberal’s caricature of a Southern redneck. His face fixed in a wicked grin, he happily proclaims his love for Jesus and guns, college football and bluegrass music, and the Democratic Party. He smokes Camels, and is prolifically profane. Saunders is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and can provide details of his great-grandfather’s wounding at the Battle of Seven Pines, in Henrico County, while serving in General James L. Kemper’s brigade. He sleeps under a Rebel-flag quilt, and when challenged on such matters he has invited his inquisitors to “kiss my Rebel ass”—his way of making the point that when Democrats are drawn into culture battles by prissy liberal sensitivities they usually lose the larger war.
Bob Rayner
September 26, 2008 12:57 PM
Thank heaven for newspapers --- and CNBC. As the nation struggles to survive and understand a financial crisis of mind-numbing complexity, much of the broadcast media have decided that informing its audience is less important than engaging in an orgy of blame and attacks against Republicans specifically and free-market capitalism in general. Count NPR, CNN, and MSNBC among the worst offenders, to no one’s real surprise.
The biggest crash so far may be in the national media’s credibility. When we look back at the extraordinary events of 2008, one of the saddest might be the death of objectivity in the national broadcast media. The patient has been on life-support for years. This election campaign and economic crisis have killed it forever. I’m not going to give you any links to the offenders’ site. No need to promote this kind of unprofessional hackery.
Bart Hinkle
September 24, 2008 12:30 PM
Foreclosures won’t necessarily drag down the value of your home.
Bart Hinkle
September 24, 2008 11:15 AM
The latest “Two Richmond Idiots,” starring Cordel Faulk and your humble s., is available here. (The audio is corrupted for about a minute, starting 1:18 into the file. Bear with us!)
P.S.— If you mouse over the double arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the player, you can play the audio back at 140 percent and 200 percent of normal playback time. Saves time AND sounds more like a cartoon. . . .
