A trophy just for showing up

Oh, for the days of expectations in public education. There was a time when attendance was an afterthought -- teachers and parents demanded that students be in class every day, barring illness, and that they pay attention in class, study at home and be able to read, write and perform basic calculations with ease.

Students faced undesirable consequences at home and at school for not fulfilling their charge.

Now it's the schools themselves that face punishment if the kids decide to play hooky. Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, poor attendance rates can get a campus designated inadequate, even if the students who actually come to class exceed academic benchmarks. That can cost schools funding.

So schools have taken steps that would have been considered disgraceful just a few generations ago -- they're offering goodies to children just for showing up. Clark County School District campuses are providing prizes ranging from free yearbooks and prom tickets to bicycles and iPods.

Compared with some parts of the country, the valley's schools are showing restraint. A couple of systems have offered cars to kids with perfect attendance.

"We shouldn't have to bribe kids to come to school," Clark County School Board Trustee Terri Janison said during a recent board meeting.

The rewards are worsening "this generation's sense of entitlement" and absolving students and parents of their "sense of personal responsibility," she said.

Exactly. What's the point in rewarding a middling student with another distraction device such as an iPod?

Clark County School District brass say the goods are funded through donations, campus vending machine revenues and other student-generated fees, not tax revenue. That's certainly appropriate.

But principals should ask themselves whether they're sending the right message to students by providing prizes for good attendance. If schools decide to stay in the business of providing material incentives, is it too much to ask that they reward ... excellence?