Show up to school, win a plasma TV

Some lucky kid in Detroit will get a 42-inch plasma television--just for showing up to school Wednesday. The free TV is part of a plan to lure as many kids as possible to the classroom on Count Day, the designated day for students to be tallied to determine state aid allotments.

Detroit, as well as other districts in Michigan, are offering a range of incentives to students in hopes of jacking up attendance rates in an age of budget cuts and dwindling enrollment. In Detroit, every student enrolled above the budgeted number brings $7,550 in state resources for students and classrooms, according to the Detroit Public Schools.

If that lesson on the American Revolution won't get them into the classroom, maybe this will.

(Credit: Panasonic)

Judging from that big-screen TV being raffled off in a Count Day contest by radio broadcast company Radio One, we're not just talking prizes like T-shirts here. Detroit students who make it to school Wednesday will also be eligible for a laptop, an iPod Nano, and an American Express gift card through the raffle.

Some might argue that such a reward system sets a dangerous quid pro quo precedent, while others will view it as a savvy--if gimmicky--move that could impact kids' future.

Regardless, Michigan school officials consider Count Day crucial, as about 75 percent of the state's school districts are losing enrollment, according to the Michigan School Business Officials organization. The reasons range from parents searching for better options for their kids to the smaller number of students entering schools as the last of the baby boomers' children graduate.

With figures like that at stake, districts are mobilizing with attractions, including parades, country hoe-downs, basketball games, free skating tickets, movies and, in Detroit's case, what appears to be ultimate reward: gadgets.

Not all districts are going the gifts-as-incentive route, however. David Mustonen, the Dearborn district's communications coordinator, says his district decided to go with a "firm" reminder instead, according to WWJ Newsradio.

Not as glamorous as a television, to be sure, but hopefully just as effective.

[SteveW928]

Wow, if that isn't the way to foster entitlement, I don't know what is. It is much worse than quid pro quo, but is something for nothing. Even worse, if it is only for this so called 'Count Day', they don't have to come back.<br /><br />If they're going to do something like this, make it 90% attendance for the year to be eligible (which would still be sending the wrong message. You show up to school to get an education, not for reward). Of course, doing so would mean this is about actually educating the kids, rather than lining the schools pockets. I guess this shows what it is really all about. $$$

[behoamai]

Disappointing how the money spent on these flash items is not spent on resources for the school! Mind you, i wouldn't mind rocking up to school one day and winning a plasma.

[DarkHawke]

And this is why public education blows: no interest in the learning process or even actual education, just a bunch of hustlers pimping indoctrination and self-esteem in lieu of actual teaching, and gaming the system to keep themselves employed and their unions (read: PACs) funded. You wanna read something almost as gobsmacking? Check it: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009873682_grades16m.html

[SteveW928]

re: Seattle..... Wow... I'm not even sure what to say. I think gobsmacking almost gets there.

[tenelkin]

so they get great awards just for showing up one day a year? Wow, it must be great. <br /> <br />Now that you got the students to stay, what about the teachers. Once you make all your students into narcissist I doubt anyone would want to teach them.

[NervClaX]

"In Detroit, every student enrolled above the budgeted number brings $7,550 in state resources for students and classrooms, according to the Detroit Public Schools." <br /> <br />If that's really the case, they should give EVERYONE a TV for showing up on "Count Day." <br /> <br />Try getting that TV home, though. It IS Detroit, ya know.