Truant Tennessee teens won't get shot at free Chevy Cobalt
When I was in high school, I got a plastic trophy for four years perfect attendance. In Tennessee this year, five high school seniors with rock solid immune systems who have also resisted the temptations of truancy will be the recipients of a free Chevy Cobalt through a new incentive program called "The Chevy Drive for Perfection." The program blankets 26 Middle Tennessee counties and will track the number of absent-free seniors throughout the school year. Come next June, those with perfect attendance will be entered into a drawing and five will drive off to college in a brand new Cobalt. And all I got was a stinkin' trophy.[Source: The Tennessean]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Peter 10:06AM (8/04/2006)
It's a nice P.R. stunt, but rather unfair to young people who missed school not because they were truant, but because they were actually sick!
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beaker 10:06AM (8/04/2006)
All I got was a plaque and they spelled my name wrong.
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Vinny 10:12AM (8/04/2006)
So class, the value of a Chevy Cobalt is roughly the same as a plastic trophy.
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Cap'n Crunch 10:20AM (8/04/2006)
I believe the car's value should be treated as taxable income to the winners. Who is responsible for paying the taxes for this?
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James 10:40AM (8/04/2006)
This is ridiculous. Don't they need a new gymnasium or something? Perhaps raise teacher salaries? Nah, we'll just buy cars.
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Ryan 10:43AM (8/04/2006)
"4. I believe the car's value should be treated as taxable income to the winners. Who is responsible for paying the taxes for this?
Posted at 10:20AM on Aug 4th 2006 by Cap'n Crunch 0 stars"
-If your under 18, it seems unfair to have to pay on taxes you had no right to vote on.
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apex 10:46AM (8/04/2006)
#5 I doubt the school system is buying the cars. Its a marketing stunt by Chevy (thus the name..The Chevy Drive for Perfection). It will be great when absentee rates skyrocket as sick kids who dont want to miss school bring their germs and infect everyone in the building.
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Chris 10:51AM (8/04/2006)
When I was a kid you got a butt kicking for being truant, that was enough to keep us in class. Maybe we need to go back to that standard.
We coddle our children too much.
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Todd 10:58AM (8/04/2006)
It a nice gift from GM. Our society rewards all types of behavior that isn't fair, and frankley dependability is something to proud of. Employers like employees that they can count on to be there every day.
I don't think any student would be laying in bed some February morning of their sophmore year wanting to skip school, but thinking about that car they might be able to get 2 years down the road. I recall someone at my highschool got a car for perfect attendence or something like that. If I recall it was a Neon or something, nothing special, but it sure takes a lot of financial burdon of college bound students.
GM can spend 5K (estimated cost of car to GM after tax deductions) and save the student 15K, or if the student choses s/he can sell it and take the cash.
In regards to the comment about a new gym or paying teachers more, get real, that equivelent amount of money that GM is spending on this program would give each teacher less than a $1 raise.
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Loren 11:16AM (8/04/2006)
This is a good incentive. If your going to complain about teacher salaries or a new gym go complain to your state representatives or the school board. This is a incentive to keep kids in school since parents tend to lack in responsibilities these days. Oh and good point Todd about the $1 raise, how is 1 car going to have any effect on hundreds or teacher salaries?
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epp_b 11:19AM (8/04/2006)
["It's a nice P.R. stunt, but rather unfair to young people who missed school not because they were truant, but because they were actually sick!"]
I agree: make the contest fair. Don't just use whatever you can to narrow down the possibility of winners. Being born with a terminal illness that constantly lands me up in the hospital, I would find this highly unfair.
Take a list of everyone who either didn't miss school or missed it for medical or school-initiated extra curicular activities. If you have more than one, draw them out of a hat.
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t 11:31AM (8/04/2006)
Think of this scenerio:
Teenager wakes up with a flu. He/she can either can fill him/herself up with flu meds, go to class with only half the attention span, and risk contaminating the student and all the faculty members all in the spirit of a chance to win a new car OR just rest it off for a day or two and lose his/her entry for that new car.
Thanks GM for promoting option 1 and risk getting everyone sick!
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Howard Kerr 11:34AM (8/04/2006)
I live in western Tn, they should offer the same incentive here...but ONLY in public schools. That way, they would get tons of FREE publicity since very few kids tend to stay in school without skipping in this part of state, AND they wouldn't have to give away a single car. This part of Tn. has the lowest rates of graduation from high school.
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anonymous coward 11:34AM (8/04/2006)
From #6: If your under 18, it seems unfair to have to pay on taxes you had no right to vote on.
But yet they pay sales tax, road tolls, embedded taxes, license fees, etc. you idiot.
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S1500 11:55AM (8/04/2006)
If I had a communicable disease, I would hope to spread it to the other students. That would knock out so many others(potentially) for perfect attendance, putting myself higher up in the running.
Biological warfare at its simplest.
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Pinkerton 12:12PM (8/04/2006)
Mr. Neff,
Was your trophy handed to you by a guy named Stratton? Just a guess. Based on some of the things you've written you sound like someone I went to HS with.
This is a good idea for everybody involved. Most people w/ perfect attendance will go off to college. A Cobalt will probably provide reliabe transportation for the four(or five :) years required to graduate.
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Ryan 12:37PM (8/04/2006)
"I agree: make the contest fair. Don't just use whatever you can to narrow down the possibility of winners. Being born with a terminal illness that constantly lands me up in the hospital, I would find this highly unfair."
-Well geez, you will have to also be pissed off at all the ***thousands*** of high schools across this country that actually *sponsor* attendance awards.
"8. When I was a kid you got a butt kicking for being truant, that was enough to keep us in class. Maybe we need to go back to that standard.
We coddle our children too much.
Posted at 10:51AM on Aug 4th 2006 by Chris 0 stars"
-If the kid is already 18 years of age, whats stopping them from telling the school "fuck you" and just drop themselves out of highschool. Especially if that kid is a chronic absentee, they probably would not mind dropping out anyway. Then ulitmatley *somewhere* throughout their lives they will be a burden on the government, which is then a burden on the people. All because you wanted to swat their ass?
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Ryan 12:40PM (8/04/2006)
"and just drop themselves out of highschool"
-Sorry that should have been high school (that was bad I'll admit it :-)
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WillDaThrill 6:38PM (8/04/2006)
Five awardees out of 26 counties? Is that how you bait your kids into attending school? I mean, it's a great idea, but how many high schools are in those 26 counties; how many seniors? You probably won't get 5 students because even if they do try, you have things such as appointments and other things to account for. Then you run the risk of spreading a virus because the kid didn't want to stay home with his bird flu or late stage chicken pox.
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