I'm told that Michelle Rhee, who moments ago wrapped up a "Reporter Roundtable" here at the Fordham offices (I knew I noticed a soft glow emanating from our conference room), defended her plan to pay students for right behavior by pulling out the KIPP Card. KIPP schools--where the hallways are always awash in soft glows--bestow upon their pupils KIPP Dollars, which can be spent on items, such as pencils and pens, on offer at the school store. Why, Rhee wondered, is her plan to pay D.C. students in cash any different from KIPP's program? I'm so glad she asked.
First, let's make the obvious distinction between KIPP dollars and American dollars, the former being valid tender only at KIPP-operated enterprises that stock wholesome inventory and the latter easily traded for 64-ounce buckets of cola and pornographic magazines. To be clear: There is a not insignificant difference between rewarding 12-year-olds with school supplies and cutting them each month a $100 check (as Rhee's plan would do), which they can spend on whatever savory or unsavory products or activities they please.
Second, Rhee's plan is bribery and KIPP's is not. To be clear: Rhee's plan is engineered such that D.C. pupils who habitually miss class and refuse to do their work may, encouraged??by offers of payment, deign to act as they already should.??At a KIPP school, a consistent truant who balked at books wouldn't be paid, wouldn't be bribed--he'd be disciplined and??maybe expelled. KIPP uses its KIPP Dollars as rewards for the good behavior that is already expected, not as an incentive to generate such behavior that wouldn't otherwise be present. KIPP Dollars are simply one reminder among many to pupils that they shouldn't act out, that they should be conscientious and decorous.
Third, KIPP is not God (are you surprised?), and if Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg decide in the future to jump off a bridge we need not feel compelled to follow them.