Incentivizing Doing What You’re Supposed To — And Enriching Cellphone Companies While We’re At It

It could be worse — they could be offering candy and sweets instead:

In New York City public schools, cellphones are considered contraband. But free cellphone airtime could be a reward for high-performing students if the city adopts the newest idea from the Education Department’s chief equality officer.

That official, Roland G. Fryer, a Harvard economist who is leading the city’s program to pay cash to some students who do well on standardized tests, told an undergraduate economics class at Harvard last month that his next proposal would include a plan to give cellphones to students, and reward free minutes to those who do well — an idea that is at odds with one of the city’s most contentious school policies, the ban on students having cellphones in school.

The ban has been attacked by parents and politicians, who call it a draconian policy that endangers students. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who would have to approve Dr. Fryer’s proposal, has repeatedly refused to budge on the ban despite the outcries.