When the N.L. government flashed the cash to get kids to stay in school
1989 pilot project paid students $50 a week to go to summer school with a bonus if they passed
It's a method that many parents have tried out, but probably not one that school boards tend to go for.
In 1989, the Newfoundland government was paying some students $50 a week to attend summer-school classes — plus a bonus if they passed them.
The pilot project involved about 40 students who hadn't been able to pass their courses during the regular school year, which is why they were still in the classroom in the summer.
At the time, Newfoundland was struggling to get enough of its students to graduate high school.
"We have a tremendous problem here in Newfoundland with students dropping out and we have to do something about keeping those students in school," said Labour Minister Pat Cowan, whose department helped fund the pilot project.
A needed incentive?
The CBC's Brian DuBreuil told viewers that "studies say as many as one in three Newfoundland students leave school without graduating, sending them into a competitive job market as dropouts."
Mike Parry, an official with the Green Bay Integrated School Board, told CBC News the money was helping to preventing students from being lured away by the opportunity to earn money elsewhere.
"We wanted some incentive, so that the students benefiting from our program wouldn't take regular summer jobs, would come to school [and] improve their academic qualifications," Parry said.
The program's good intentions didn't convince everyone that it was the right approach.
"To pay them to come to school, I think that might be creating the wrong impression in the minds of students," said Wayne Carson, a teacher with the St. John's Catholic School Board.
'Why should they pay them?'
Some students who passed their classes during the regular school year also had their issues with the program.
"They're giving them a second chance to go to school, why should they pay them to go to school?" a male student asked.
DuBreuil said the provincial education ministry would be tracking the students taking part in the program.
"It wants to find out if paying students not only motivates them to do well in summer school, but whether that motivation will extend into the regular school year, turning potential dropouts into high school graduates," he said.