Don't show me the money

So here's a link to a blog post about the teachers union in Leominster, Massachusetts turning down an $856,000 grant to improve the district's AP program. The thorny part of the proposal (I guess) would have provided incentive bonuses for AP teachers. I can't blame the blogger for being baffled or repelled by a decision that would result in the rejection of money for education.

Yet I want to set aside the objection about paying teachers at different rates for a moment. That may have been the union's primary concern, and it is worth debating, but it is not my concern. I am more troubled by the drive to make as many students as possible AP. Suppose we create a cash incentive for teachers to recruit AP students. We'll certainly have more students take it (teachers can flatter and cajole to sell a program just as well as any other salesfolk) but will the students be well served? Consider the following.

How many students will be over-recruited, over-programmed, and over stressed? As it is, some kids are driving themselves too hard. Do you know any coaches who lean on kids to participate? Any extra-curricular programs that require long practices, late practices, or early morning practices? Any kids who complain that they don't have time to complete all their obligations but they just can't figure out what to quit? Is it possible that the problem will be exacerbated when we pay teachers by the number of kids in their courses? How much more pressure will be on these kids when the teacher sees them as incentive payments rather than learners?

Maybe the classes are more important, and should take priority, but that's currently in the hands of the kids and their parents. I have heard from many parents (and coaches) that sports or arts are the passion that keeps their kids in school; without them, the student would give up. We can offer an intense academic equivalent in the form of AP classes, but to pay teachers extra for higher enrollment is to incentivize recruitment, leading to the over-commitment of our most ambitious, motivated students. It might teach them how to set limits, but probably only after they crash and burn. It's just a bad idea.