When students in select New York schools score good grades, they won’t just be getting the kudos of teachers and parents -- they will also be rewarded with talk time, ringtones and games for cellphones given to them free.
Digital Journal — In a pilot program affecting 2,500 students in Manhattan and Brooklyn, education officials are giving away Samsung flip-phones to seven participating middle schools. Each student receives a free phone with 130 prepaid minutes. When a student does well at school with good behaviour or impressive grades, they can earn “points” that can be redeemed for talk time, ringtones, games and other downloads. The Million Motivation Campaign’s cellphone project will also allow principals and teachers to text-message students to alert them to school events, tests or study tips.
Program coordinators are confident the free-cellphone idea will not only appeal to the nerdy side of a teen lifestyle but also inspire the children to work hard at school.
Dr. Roland Fryer, Chief Equality Officer for the Department of Education, said in a statement: "The Million is a bold idea that aims to re-brand achievement to students, showing them that their dreams don’t need boundaries and providing a clear pathway to achieve those ambitions."
Much like any unique project that blends freebies, technology and academic achievement, the Million wants to test-drive the program before rolling it out across the city. Debra Wexler, spokesperson for the
New York City Department of Education, told DigitalJournal.com they “wanted to try an innovative approach to address student motivation.” She went on to say using free cellphones is just a means to an end – “We don’t want the students to be hooked on the incentive, but to be motivated. And now school officials can communicate with kids using a medium the teens already use.”
But there’s a small wrinkle to the Million plan. New York has banned cellphone use in schools, so the Million phones can only be used after class. The policy, enforced stringently in 2006, sounds like it could bruise the Education Department’s plan to give students free rein to use the phone after they win the “rewards.” Wexler thinks otherwise: "Kids can connect to each other after school. And an early evening text message from a teacher can offer a study tip to students, for example." The pilot program is focusing on “high-need students,” as Wexler explains, giving poverty-ridden neighbourhoods a chance to spark ambition and achievement in communities that may be hurt by crime. Urban education rarely rewards students for good behaviour using technology such as a Samsung flip-phone, but the Million project wants to upturn traditional educational strategies.
And like any adventurous initiative, there will be pros and cons: the benefits of the Million reside in the motivational factor, which should give students a push in the right direction. Wanting a cellphone game, for instance, might drive a student to study harder on a test, or complete last night’s homework. The lure of the prize could end up turning a D-grade student into a B-plus achiever.
On the flip side, rewarding students for good grades with material goods may be sending the wrong message. “Do well in school and you’ll get a prize.” Is that what kids should be learning in middle school? It’s not unbelievable to think these students already get that message from home, where allowance and Christmas gifts may be given only to the hardest-working children. If students rely on presents or points for achieving solid grades and abstaining from school fights, the education behind the program could be lost. Students may only care about the prize and not how they got there.
Also, because students are now in contact with teachers and principals, there’s a sense of Big Brother watching over the student body now. If a student doesn’t arrive on time for class, a teacher could call him on his Samsung phone. Is that what students and teachers want? Constant contact could spell trouble for school officials if close relationships begin to build between student and teacher. And students could be rightly angry at teachers for texting and calling them every week, even if it is to remind them about the test for which they’re already studying.
However you view the Million, its impact is not merely a whisper in the wind. Bridging technology and educational achievement has the potential to overhaul how poverty-stricken areas combat the dropout crisis, if done right. It will be interesting to see how the Million progresses in the coming year, and whether the appeal of cellphones can make sure no child is left behind.
