If you’re a teenager in Greensboro, North Carolina, there’s an easy way to make money — don’t get pregnant. This is not a joke. A group called College Bound Sisters is offering girls between the ages of 12 and 18 a dollar a day to use towards college if they remain not pregnant.

While the group’s motives are obviously noble, this whole program strikes this woman as ridiculous. Perhaps someone can pay me to maintain my personal hygiene and eat right while we’re at it! How about a dollar for every class they don’t fail? Or a dollar for every raw vegetable they eat? Paying teenagers — or anyone else for that matter — for what they should already be doing seems to communicate that there is no greater motivator than the Almighty Dollar to do things that we should already be doing.

It strikes me as the least common denominator to use money as incentive for anything besides money-related issues. If the more important issue is morality, then a discussion of both the benefits of moral living and the consequences of immoral living might be a more appropriate route to take. If, however, the concern is much more pragmatic, relative to women’s careers and futures, then a conversation about potential consequences would be best. How about putting that money into a mentoring program? Maybe a counseling program? Ideally, students would be taught to be motivated by their own success and achievement.

That said, I do appreciate the program’s focus on education. Seven dollars is deposited into an interest-bearing college fund for each week girls have been part of the program. If a girl no longer qualifies, because she’s gotten pregnant, her money is divided among the other participants. (That’s another challenge for the program. Some girls benefit from their peers’ failures). In any case, the money can be used for college expenses once they graduate high school.

Perhaps the teacher in me expects more from teenagers. Time and time again I have seen teenagers rise to the level of expectation that a teacher or parent has for them, whether that expectation be high or low. And, too often, we set the bar very low. While I’d give the program an A for effort and intention, I’d also give it a D for it’s sad attempt to motivate teens to do the right thing.

Time will tell how well this program and others like it do to actually prevent negative behavior and encourage healthy lifestyle and educational choices. In reality, I believe we’ll find that it really does take a village to raise a child the right way: good parenting cannot be replaced; good teachers are essential; a church to reinforce values; and a community of friends, family, neighbors who share those values.

Do you think this is good incentive for a teenager? What message does it send? Could there be any negative consequences to this type of program? What do you believe it takes to successfully motivate teenagers to make healthy lifestyle and educational choices?

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(Original photo by Polina Sergeeva, used under Creative Commons license.)