Students Rewarded for Tattling at School

zimv20 · Apr 26, 2005

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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.

"There are very few things that I can think of that would be more effective at destroying that sense of community," said Bruce Marlowe, an education psychology professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.

About 2,000 schools and colleges, from Honolulu to Palm Beach County, Fla., have adopted Student Crime Stoppers programs like Houston County, according to the nonprofit Crime Stoppers U.S.A., which began helping schools set up such programs in 1983.

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Thomas Veil · Apr 27, 2005

See, the part that bothers me is the small crimes like vandalism. Sure it's wrong, but if you can turn in somebody for even the smallest instances of vandalism, you can probably turn them in for little crap like taking more than one parking space. That just creates an atmosphere of fear and distrust, and allows students to use the system as a weapon against each other. P.o.'d at another student? Just keep watching them until you can turn them in for something.

For larger crimes, I see nothing wrong with this. I don't think students would have a problem with somebody turning in kids for abusing drugs or stealing.

pseudobrit · Apr 27, 2005

The irony meter will run off the scale when the first snitch-program rat is shot dead by one of his classmates for narc'ing on him.

Students Rewarded for Tattling at School

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Students Rewarded for Tattling at School

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