"So Much for Motivation" Can you tell how long ago this was written about motivating students?

[Are_grits_groceries]

So Much for Motivation

The job sounded easy enough: talk about "motivation" to a group of Washington area students; discuss those things that kids know they should do, but have difficulty getting "psyched up" to do them, like . . .

"Homework," said Danita Poole, a seventh grader at Jefferson Junior High in Southwest Washington. "It's boring."

"Going to school," said Tamisa Brooks, also a seventh grader. "It's not that we don't want to. It's just that it is so tiring. We go to class after class and it gets sooooo boring."

"Oh, Lord, yes," the students sighed in unison.
<snip>
But I was more than ready, for in my repertoire of motivational messages was what I called my Booker T. Washington "up from slavery" guilt-trip talk.
<snip>
Having told the story, which had almost made me choke with pride, Jermel Fisher, a seventh grader at Deal Junior High in Northwest, looked me straight in the eye and said, "Some kids don't go to class because the rooms are scattered too far apart."

"You mean across the school campus?" I asked incredulously.

"Like down long hallways," he said.

Booker T. Washington would roll over in his grave if he heard that, I said, prompting a few students to hang their heads in mock shame. Others, however, just stared at me with a "tough luck" look in their eyes.

So much for roots.
<snip>
Excuuuuse me, I pleaded, changing the subject back to school once again.
What could teachers do to help motivate the students?

"Crack a joke," said Lecount Hughes, who attends Deal. "It would help break the ice. There is already a lot of pressure on us."

"Play games," said Culeta Johnson, an eighth grader at the same school. "In one of my classes, before we take a test, we play vocabulary or foreign language games. The winner gets a prize or sometimes extra points on the test. What really motivates me, though, is that if I bring home a C or less, my mother will bring the boom down on me."

Some students smiled knowingly. But it was Ronald Currie, a 10th grader at Forestville High in Prince George's County, who had the answer that all were waiting to hear:
"If you get 10 problems correct on a math test," Currie said, "my math teacher gives you $5."

Suddenly, eyes bulged and the room was abuzz with talk of "cash for math." So there it was, folks, for teachers and parents alike: You want to motivate your children, then play games with them, crack a joke or two and fork out some cash.

If all else fails, feel free to lower the boom on them.

The Washington Post - Washington, D.C.
Author: Courtland Milloy
Date: Apr 23
Section: METRO

I am not trying to aim at one race or area. This could be replicated in schools all over the US using different models.
Milloy's eye-opening exasperation would probably be the reaction of a lot of people.

"Bring down the boom" However you do that???

It was written in 1989. I have remembered it that long, and searched the WaPo archives.

[old mark]

1. A_g_g:I recently read that the Philadelphia public school system

has over 30% of students absent every day, some who never show up at all. Last year there was a city wide meeting inviting parents of high school students telling them that parents would be held responsible for their kids attendance and possibly fined for unexcused absences. Many parents got up and walked out, and as far as I know, that ended that idea.

Philadelphia has supposedly increased attendance by 50% over the last several years, but I don't know what they based that number on or how they supposedly did it.

School boards are run by politicians and they lie.

mark