Wasted Childhood

I really thought that I had seen all of the Bugs Bunny cartoons when I was a kid. Apparently, I missed this one.



Meanwhile, in North Carolina, the state is considering paying children to study hard. Think about that for a second or two. If you have forty kids in a classroom, that kind of money could pay for enough extra teachers to reduce the class size by thirty or forty percent. Or it might provide money for some basic health care for the poorer kids.

But no, the best idea that the clowns in the state legislature can come up with is to bribe the kids? Hell, why not have the state send money to every driver that doesn't get a traffic ticket for the year, or, for that matter, every state citizen that goes through the year without committing a felony?

Part of living in a society is that you're supposed to do the right thing. Not because you'll get credit for it or because someone is paying you. You're supposed to do what is right, period. Of course, that doesn't work out so well, which is why religions try to bribe their adherents into doing the right thing by promising them rewards in the afterlife.

This program sends the wrong message to children. How about this: "Kids, if you graduate high school with good grades an a reasonable SAT/ACT score, you'll get a tuition-free ride at a state college." If the NC legislators are all fired up to bribe the kids to shut up, sit down and pay attention in school, then do it in a way that can change their lives for the better.