Paying students

one of these days I'll get around to more writing about the terrible Post editorials on this and other education topics. Gary Imhoff in themail covers it well enough in the current issue.

I was thinking about this earlier today though and here is my thinking:

We all know the difference between deferred and immediate gratification. I always joked to unhappy co-workers that the reason you get paid to go to work is that it isn't fun.

Yes, for the most part, except for some nasty teachers here and there along the way, and my problems with math, I loved school.

I understood that it was part of my pathway to being an adult, and if I produced, I could go to college and then do even better.

I am the first to admit that being middle class gave me huge advantages in terms of this pathway.

But I think that if people believe that monetizing the school-going process is necessary in DC, it is because there is no upward pathway, no connection between learning, doing well in school, and eventually getting decently paying jobs. That school is completely disconnected from the success path, and therefore just like work, because sometimes it really isn't fun, your boss is a jerk, and so are some of your coworkers, the project is poorly defined, etc., you have to get paid to do it.

Pretty cynical and base if you ask me.

City of Toronto image.