Here's a novel idea

David Droga, the creative big and founder of the start-up Droga5, is working with the New York City Department of Education to solve the age-old problem of students viewing academic achievement as uncool or irrelevant. The program skips the lectures and public-service announcements and instead involves giving away to each student free mobile phones packed with learning tools such as a thesaurus, spell checks and an extra-help tip line. The more a student uses these learning applications, the more rewards -- discounts for movies, sneakers, clothes and music downloads, as well as air-time minutes and text messages -- are unlocked.