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It’s A Question Of Balance ® radio show balances the intellectual with the creative, exploring whether we have more in common than divides us through thought-provoking conversations – out and about with people on the street on different topics, and in the studio with inspiring guests from the arts. Balance is not a compromise. Balance is truth distilled from many places creating cohesive understanding.
Topic: Out And About – Conversations on the Street about Questions That Matter: Should Children Be Paid To Learn?
This week we consider ‘Should Children Be Paid To Learn?’ According to research papers quoted in Education Week and the Journal of Human Resources a dozen states in America have offered financial incentive programs to students ranging from students being paid to read to receiving in some instances hundreds of dollars for good grades. But should children be paid to learn? Michael Sandel in his book What Money Can’t Buy states that economic reasoning suggests that two incentives should work better than one but there is also the possibility that the monetary incentive will undermine the intrinsic one leading to less reading over time. Is there any harm in offering children financial incentives if it gets them to do the work? What life lessons do you think children might learn from being offered money to read, or get better grades, rather than learning to motivate themselves? Could it be teaching them that studying is a chore? Or would they perhaps gain an intrinsic love of reading, for example, as a by-product of learning for pay?
What do you think? Ruth Copland interviews people on the street for our Out and About feature.
Arts Interview: In-Depth Conversation with Jon Ronson Begins at 53 Minutes
Photo by Emli Bendixen
This week as her special guest from the arts Ruth Copland is pleased to be interviewing internationally best-selling writer, journalist, screenwriter, radio presenter and film-maker Jon Ronson. Born in Wales, Jon currently lives in London and New York. Author of nine books and numerous articles, Jon’s non-fiction books, The Psychopath Test; Them: Adventures with Extremists; Lost at Sea; and The Men Who Stare At Goats have all been international and New York Times bestsellers. The Men Who Stare At Goats was adapted into a film starring George Clooney, and The Psychopath Test is to be adapted into a thriller starring Scarlett Johansson. Jon is a documentary film-maker, directing, writing and hosting by turns; his many films include Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes and The Secret Rulers of the World. His first fictional screenplay, called Frank and written with Peter Straughan, won the British Independent Film Awards Best Screenplay award. Jon is currently writing and directing a silent comedy, The Dog Thrower. In the UK Jon writes regularly for The Guardian newspaper and has produced and presented radio shows including the BBC Radio 4 show Jon Ronson On… which has been nominated for a Sony Award four times. In the US he’s a regular contributor to the Public Radio International show This American Life and GQ magazine. Jon’s latest book is So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed.
For more info visit http://www.jonronson.com
“It’s A Question of Balance ® so rare among radio talk shows, lets its subjects breathe. With her discursive style and pleasingly eccentric range of curiosity, host Ruth Copland each week treats her listeners to two hours of Whole Brain Radio.”
Hampton Sides – Internationally bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and historian
