Students getting cash, prizes for tattling on classmates

[_TJ_]

Students getting cash, prizes for tattling on classmates
Doug Gross, Associated Press
April 26, 2005 TATTLE0427

ATLANTA -— For a growing number of students, the easiest way to make a couple of hundred dollars has nothing to do with chores or after-school jobs, and everything to do with informing on classmates.

Tragedies like last month's deadly shooting at a Red Lake, Minn., school have prompted more schools to offer cash and other prizes — including pizza and premium parking spots — to students who report classmates who carry guns, drugs or alcohol, commit vandalism or otherwise break school rules.

"For kids of that age, it's hard for them to tell on their peers. This gives them an opportunity to step up if they know something that will help us make an arrest,'' said James Kinchen, an assistant school superintendent in Houston County, Ga., which earlier this month started offering rewards of up to $100 for reporting relatively minor crimes like vandalism or theft and $500 for information about a crime, or plans for a crime, involving a gun.

Critics call them "snitch'' programs, saying they are a knee-jerk reaction to student violence. Some education professionals fear such policies could create a climate of distrust in schools and turn students against each other.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/5369719.html

[phantom power]

1. Imagine how popular you'd be if you ratted some other kid out

for a parking spot. That's going to go over far worse than just doing it because you thought it was right.

[Double T]

2. How To Teach Our Youth About The Culture Of Backstabbing

[colonel odis]

3. how much would you get for ratting out a male teacher who

acts inappropriately with female students?