Response to B-On-Time Project

A colleague of mine has commented on and brought to my attention the “B-On-Time” program in her blog Laws vs. Liberty. While I had never heard of this program before, this commentary was well written and informational. I agree that it is a great idea to encourage students to do well in school as well as completing their education in a timely manner. While Nina pointed out that this may promote cheating or other forms of academic dishonesty to achieve higher grades I do not think that this is any different from the competition required for competing for scholarships. There will always be some form of academic dishonesty regardless of any precautions to prevent it. There will always be a few students who lack the moral integrity to earn a grade on their own and are willing to risk their entire academic career, but these students should not stand in the way of those willing to put in the extra time and effort to earn the better grade.

Another concern pointed out by Nina is the limited and decreasing budget for this program. While the additional money needed to support the large number of students cannot simply appear out of thin air there could be the possibility of working with the limited budget instead of fighting against it. One suggestion could be to treat this program as a scholarship fund which would require students to apply for the funding and could be evaluated and compared to other students applying. This would indeed require additional work by the students applying for it, but this could also be a way of discouraging those students who are inclined to take the easy way out, who would most likely be the ones inclined to cheat.

Overall after reading this blog commentary I have come to the same conclusion as Nina that the “B-On-Time” program should be upheld and given as much government support as possible.