“Freakonomics Radio” and Teachers Who Cheat
I was driving to my public library today to return some materials when I just happened to hear a few minutes of “Marketplace” on my local NPR affiliate. One of my favorite features, “Freakonomics Radio”, came on the air, and wouldn’t you know it, today they were dealing with education – specifically, teachers cheating on standardized tests. You can see the transcript or listen to the segment at the Marketplace website. Naturally, I took out my laptop and composed this blog post right away in the library.
There are some fine insights that can be applied to education when we listen to some of the more interesting voices in economics and business. I’m thinking not only of Freakonomics co-authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, but also Dan Ariely, Bob Sutton, Dan Pink, and Samuel Culbertson. However, on this occasion, I found Dubner and Levitt a bit off their game, along with host Kai Ryssdal.
What did they get wrong?
DUBNER: “…[T]he fact is if you’re a teacher and all of a sudden there’s a new incentive in place for you to not do poorly in your class, then teachers all of a sudden have the kind of incentive that students used to have. And so