” Paying ANY money for ANY–no matter how few– grade points is morally wrong and totally unethical. If students have to be bribed with grade points to do the things that they SHOULD be doing because it is an added educational value is really SICK. Extra points have always been been awarded for extra effort. Paying money for extra credit and not even having to prove they actually went to the event in question is pure bribery. Many of our Ridgewood families can buy anything they want (were any on the unreleased lists of those who bought their child’s college admission?) but that probably means they didn’t even bother to go. For free grade points? Many of our spoiled brats would rush to get in line to purchase–NOT EARN–grade points. Fortunately for Ridgewood and the world, many parents encourage their children to do the right thing. These students are all out-standing in many ways and we are fortunate to have them. And we are also very fortunate to have parents who will stand up to the almost guaranteed nasty pay-back and state when they see something that is not correct. The School Board should actually be happy to have something other than: “Poor–name– is being picked on by his teacher and the teacher just won’t–select one or more–give him a good grade, let him be a starter in sports, not send him to detention, etc. etc. This attitude has been around for years but it’s getting considerably worse now. And buying grades is just a result of that–the teacher can raise any purchasers’s grade to please the parents while not requiring any effort being put into it. “
