News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Covid has broken the social contract between parents and schools.

Re:Covid has broken the social contract between parents and ... by teddyh on Saturday September 23, 2023 @08:30PM (#37628978)
Reminds me of a story in which a day care started charging fees for parents who were late picking up their kids. The behavior of the parents then changed, from regarding tardiness as a moral failure, to viewing it as something they could pay for, if they wanted to, and therefore the amount of late parents increased. The way I heard it, the day care did not want this, and so they removed the fee. But the outlook of the parents had irrevocably changed, and since being late was now free, they started to be even more late. There was no going back.

I believe that this is the study in question, but I have not verified that my recollection above matches the actual study:

<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/2587744_A_Fine_is_a...>

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Covid has broken the social contract between parents and ... by smegsicle on Saturday September 23, 2023 @10:34PM (#37629639)
instead of cash, they should have required a handwritten letter of apology
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Covid has broken the social contract between parents and ... by sentientslug on Saturday September 23, 2023 @10:49PM (#37629726)
The classic economics lesson of perverse incentives.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Covid has broken the social contract between parents and ... by teddyh on Saturday September 23, 2023 @10:53PM (#37629744)
No, if it was merely a matter of incentives, the behavior of parents should have reverted when the fine was removed; i.e. when the situation was restored to its initial condition. But when the fine was instituted, a culture shift occured, which would then not revert when the fine was removed.
[ Parent | on HN ]