I REFER to your article "Straight to the Point" (March 23), and Joseph Rowntree School's incentive scheme for raising attainment with its Year 11 pupils.
I am convinced that competition and cooperation are valuable lessons for pupils and this scheme embodies both.
However I am not convinced that the incentives ("bribery" as you called it) embody the values that young people should be learning in our schools. A love of learning and striving for your personal best and cooperating with others are of more value than a love of money and I worry that such incentive schemes are the slippery slope to pupils asking for such rewards for other school activities.
How soon before mercenary pupils will be asking what it's worth to turn up and play for the school team, or to attend a work experience placement, or to take part in a musical production?
The insidious principle of materialism can be seen in this scheme, not a principle that should be unquestioned in any school's citizenship scheme of work.
Trevor Boag,
Northway,
Pickering.
Updated: 11:35 Tuesday, March 29, 2005
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