take this WASL prep course and get a free iPod

Whatever works, right?

Attention Seattle high-school students: Want an iPod? Did you fail reading or math on the 10th-grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL)?

If you answered yes to both questions, Seattle has an iPod shuffle for you. The catch? You must spend five weeks in one of two WASL-prep summer programs.

The programs are free. But only about 80 students have signed up so far, with room for 270 more.

The city hopes the programs, a joint project with Seattle Public Schools and Seattle Community Colleges, will help students want to learn for learning's sake.

If that last line doesn't make you spit up your coffee, nothing will.