Lots of school is propaganda and the goal of the assignment was undoubtedly to get the children to do more to help others throughout the children’s lives. So giving the money was more about directly accomplishing the ends of the assignment. If we want to be more cynical, the goal of the assignment was to signal virtue, and by giving money my son accomplished this better than if he completed the assignment the normal way.
While that’s part of the goal of the assignment it likely wasn’t the only goal. If he was supposed to write an essay on the topic of “how to be more compassionate” he was likely also supposed to train essay writing.
Lots of school is propaganda and the goal of the assignment was undoubtedly to get the children to do more to help others throughout the children’s lives. So giving the money was more about directly accomplishing the ends of the assignment. If we want to be more cynical, the goal of the assignment was to signal virtue, and by giving money my son accomplished this better than if he completed the assignment the normal way.
While that’s part of the goal of the assignment it likely wasn’t the only goal. If he was supposed to write an essay on the topic of “how to be more compassionate” he was likely also supposed to train essay writing.