Snitch Nation
Schools have begun to offer cash and other prizes – including pizza and premium parking spots – to students who report classmates who carry guns, drugs or alcohol, commit vandalism or otherwise break school rules. Link.
We don't like it. We tend to look at society as a pattern of overlapping circles. Each person is a member of many such circles: the family, the baseball team, the student body, the group of guys who go out Friday nights for beers.
When you're in a circle, there should be a heavy presumption against breaking or defiling it. Sure, there are often compelling reasons to do so, but young people shouldn't be encouraged to defile the circle from base motives, like pizza and money. If there's a dangerous drug dealer or an AK47-totin' teenager, the students are going to break the circle without regard to reward. The money and pizza help only when the circle shouldn't be broken or, perhaps, when it's a close call. If it's a close call, the students should be considering higher principles than material gain.
