Did you hear about the Florida teacher who was recently suspended because he asked students to help him earn frequent-flier miles? The teacher allegedly gave extra credit to students who brought in specially marked Wendy’s beverage cups that were part of a frequent-flier promotion with AirTran (32 cups could be redeemed for AirTran flight credits, basically, enough for a free one-way ticket).
The teacher claimed that he didn’t realize that asking the students to bring in cups was wrong. I remember seeing a television news report that revealed how the promotion was encouraging dumpster diving, but now, hearing about this teacher makes wonder how far someone will go to get a free airline ticket (and in this case, a ONE-way ticket). I wonder if the teacher was desperate to travel to an exotic location? Or did he need the free ticket to visit an ill family member? Who knows?
I also wonder how he introduced the “extra-credit” project to his students. Did he say, “Hey, I really need a free ticket for my upcoming trip to… fill in the blank… who wants to help me round up some cups from Wendy’s? Oh, come on… I’ll give you extra credit.” Or did he incorporate it into the day’s math lesson and say, “Ok, I need 64 cups for a free round trip ticket. There are 32 of you in this class so how many cups do each of you need to bring in for me to get my free ticket?”
Incidentally, after a student notified his parents about the teacher’s “extra-credit” project the teacher took steps to “correct” the situation by writing to the airlines and asking them to remove 32 credits from his account. In addition, the school suspended the teacher for five days. Just leaves you shaking your head (or at least I am shaking mine).