Nerd News: One UK Teacher Vs. the EMA

Katharine Birbalsingh (I previously posted about her here when she was under fire for criticizing the UK's broken education system) takes aim at the Education Maintenance Allowance that she argues, bribes deadbeat kids to go to school and, even worse, ensures that they remain deadbeats:

Even if you ignore all the disruption to the good kids, all the teachers who have had breakdowns, all the wasted taxpayers’ money, can the do-gooders not see how EMA and the culture of prizes for all only ruins the lives of the poor? It rids them of the motivation and aspiration that is required for success in life. 

... EMA and the culture it creates turns our poor children into goons who go to school because they’re being paid to. They haven’t ever had to think about what they want out of life and plan for it: because the system never lets them.

EMA should be scrapped, not to save money but to save our kids. Money doesn’t always fix social problems; sometimes it is the cause.