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Diane Ravitch

Kids in other parts of the world pay to go to school. So why do some people think American kids should be paid to learn, asks education historian Diane Ravitch in a Forbes Magazine column. She writes:

In India, students compete for admission into cram schools, where they study intensively in order to compete for admission into India’s highly regarded technology colleges. Their families pay as much as $1,500 a year for this opportunity, which, for many, is a great hardship. In Korea and Japan, students attend after-school classes to boost their chances for college admission.

In the U.S., by contrast, school districts and philanthropists are embarking on ever-more elaborate efforts to persuade students to care about school and to learn basic skills.