I Pit Awards For Every School Kid!

The BBQ Pit
1

Grrrr… No wonder Obama wants to redefine education in the US.

Recently, I joined facebook (yes, yes, quit laughing, I know it’s really a virtual sandbox) and although I’m glad I can find friends of past, I am hearing dumb-ass stories on how their kids are rewarded… for NOTHING!

One friend told me how her kid brought home awards from junior high school-- one for cleanest desk, tidiest locker, friendliest to new kids and an award for best laugh.
Boy is my friend proud. She then tells me how it’s so much better in school now, because each kid receives an award or achievement certificate before the end of the semester, and she thinks this boosts confidence. I asked if her if her kid still can’t get above a C in math or reading and how these awards will get her into Ivy League. Soon, I imagine, I’ll be deleted from her friend list, in which time I will ask her if I get an award for Being Most Honest On Facebook.

Other friends have shared too. One kid = Best Red Colorer (with crayons), another kid = Best Blue Colorer (also with crayons). These awards were given to these two kids at the same school after they were assigned to make a school-spirit poster for a hallway contest. No, they didn’t win best poster, just the best colorer awards.

Another told me of their son’s little league. End of the season last year, the kids teams received ten team trophies-- guess how many teams? Yup, ten. Each team gets a trophy. Last place received the “Best Sportsmanship” trophy. Let’s not forget the individual trophies-- over 15 MVP trophies for players, and each team received at least one.

This is absolutely making me sick. The only winners here are the neighborhood trophy manufacturers. Did all these parents/coaches/teachers watch the Bobby Brady Wants a Trophy episode a little TOO much?

Overall, I think this is just way too misleading for our kids. When they get to high-school, there’s only ONE Valedictorian. I don’t remember awards and speeches being made by the top 30 students, nor the Best Blue Colorer receiving any financial aid to an Arts Academy.

Anyone else have stories about this claptrap? I have googled and googled, to no avail.
Please share any stories, cites, articles, etc. If I learn enough about this, I might receive an award for Best Complainer.

[grinding teeth…]

2

When everyone is special…no one is.

I agree, this is ridiculous. Self-esteem is earned, not given. I grew up in an era where you were rewarded for good grades and perfect attendance. I cried myself sick over a C and my mother said she’d never have to punish me for bad grades…I’d do that all my myself.

How does it help kids strive to do better if they get a big shiny medal just for showing up?

3

In theory, I agree. But …

Coloring? Little League? These are not world-changing talents.

This is about encouraging kids to keep trying, and that is a good thing. The kids who are old enough to take it know that Best Red Colorer is NOT as significant as Best Poster; the kids who don’t will keep trying.

This kind of stuff is fine through second grade, or up to middle school for sports; that should be long enough to teach kids some things are fun even if you aren’t the Best.

However …
Parents bragging about this on Facebook? Everything about that is wrong …

4

Actually, in some places, there are multiple valedictorians - or none, so as not to offend.

This behavior does set these kids for Snowflakedom, and I find that classifying the very last place as “most sportsmanlike” to be unintentially funny. At least they could give the worst team a trophy - an antitrophy for being the “best of the worst” or “best loser.”

5

When I was about twelve I played rec league basketball. I wasn’t terrible at athletics, but I never did get the hang of basketball. My hands were small and I travelled constantly. Still I averaged a few points a game and was only mildly hopeless. So at the end of the year our coach got us all together for pizza and gave the traditional end of year awards. So there was “Most Valuable Player”, “Most Improved”, “Best Team Player” etc . . . I was the last one to be given my award. This was a certificate with gold trim and everything. I envisioned on my wall next to my other two trophies from soccer.

So I get it and inscribed is “Just Plain Mitch” award. I guess the real awards were taken. Far from a self esteem boost it was a sure way to make me feel like a loser.

6

Broad spectrum awards can be fun if used in moderation. My children’s elementary school has three basic awards through the school year: the VIP, the student of the month, and the academic champion. Everyone gets to be VIP, most of the class will achieve student of the month, but only 4 will be academic champions. They get excited for each chance to be recognized, but they do value each award differently. VIP is fun because Mom comes to school to eat lunch with them, student of the month is nice because you get to stand up in a big assembly, but they know how special the AC is because it’s hard to get.

I’ve seen award ceremonies where every kid who competes gets something. I’ve also watched the faces of the kids as they’ve gone up to get the award. Very few of them seem to value that award any more than the paper it’s written on and sometimes quite a bit less.

Kids know when the awards are a big pile o’ crap.

7

Meaningless ‘awards’ do no harm, but trophies is ridiculous, and a few colour printouts of certificates would be more appropriate. Parents not understanding the difference between an ‘award’ and a genuine award, the latter being something to actually tell people about, suggests things are far too muddled.

8

And one day the “Best Blue Colorer” may figure out that their award really meant “you suck at art.”

When I was a kid, I did all the “gifted and talented” stuff at school (like most other posters, probably) and went to special summer camps and this and that, so I came to believe that going to a special class meant I was advanced in that area. I also did some acting. After a couple of rehearsals for a musical, the director suggested that I take some dance classes. Wow! I must be a really good dancer for the director to suggest I take a special dance class!

To this day I have hang-ups about dancing, which I think originated in the realization a couple of years later that I must have been a really shitty dancer.

9

Recognizing strengths is important. The problem with putting these awards for nonsense out not only says, “You’re getting an award for coming in last.”, but it tells them nothing about their own strengths of weaknesses.

It’s also conspicuous consumption. I need some commemorative tzachke that tells me how great it was to come in last. :dubious: This ‘stuff as palliative for depression’ thing has given us the Mall culture we live in.

You wanna build a kid’s self-esteem? Teach them how to feel good about themselves when no one is there to hand them an award.

10

Good point. It’s like communism v. capitalism–it’s impossible to distribute goods efficiently without the price mechanism to tell people the strengths and weaknesses of various products.

11

I should ALSO mention, the BLue Colorer/Red colorer award recipients misspelled
THE FREAKING SCHOOL NAME! I don’t know what it was called, but it was named after a president. Even if you haven’t learned who the hell John F. Kennedy was, you HAVE to spell it right!

I had to put together resumes that came to a company I worked at for a new Secretary position. A lot of them, may be majority, spelled it “Secratery”. They all went in the circular file. I didn’t read one of them. Now, you could misspell something in your cover letter, but if it’s our company name, your name, or the position title, why in the hell should I call you back when you won’t even check your work?

Maybe they didn’t receive the “Check Your Own Work Before Turning In” award.

12

What? No, they got rid of that in my school in '90 and by '94 AP was gone too. It wasn’t a fair use of resources.

13

Agreed in full. A good day at work is one where no one comments on your efforts,
they just say, “See you tomorrow!” Most cases, I think that proves you did have a good day. What will happen when those awarded for everything don’t get compliments every day at their day job?

There is nothing wrong with knowing and understanding what your weaknesses and limits are. I’m 38, non-athletic, and I LOOOOOVE baseball. Should I try out for the Dodgers??? Why not? I got the Best Bench Sitter award in little-league… Everyone clapped, I shook a grown-ups hand, we had free ice-cream… Grrrr… :rolleyes:

14

See, here is the problem right here:

Ivylass said:

Because, of course in your era, the point was to recognize people so that we could make others cry and punish themselves.

While giving away worthless recognition is not good, neither is making school into this huge competition is either. Wow! Your team was was the best because it won the championship because your team had physically gifted kids! Yay! Let’s reward them for that! No one has a problem with that. But heaven forbid we reward anyone for putting for any other “unsanctioned” effort into anything… It’s all arbitrary anyway. But as far as I am concerned, making students cry and punish themselves is NOT the point of school.

15

I’ll bite: What is Snowflakedom? (I’m already smiling, AND laughing thinking kids are saying, “Dude, your a snowflake. Loser.” Ha!)

16

My handy-dandy Politically Correct Dictionary suggests ‘least best’.

17

Hey, at least they make up shit like “Best Sportsmanship” now. Back in the 1970s, all the players, including the sucky ones like me, got “participation” trophies in Little League. We knew it was crap, and so did everyone else. I’m not sure why they bothered.

18

per Snowflake: a demanding, annoying, damaged and dysfunctional student:

linky, linky, linky

19

Also, “snowflake”= “special snowflake”. Because every one is unique and the best in their own individual way.

20

So, what grade level and which president are we talking about? Did they leave out a doubled letter in kindergarten? Pshaw.

I am not disagreeing with your goal (competence), but I do prefer people who at least give me something to correct, to those who are so afraid of failing that they can produce nothing.

I’ve dealt with both, and I prefer those who grow up to write beautifully out-lined reports in completely incoherent syntax (very correctable) to those who fear to present anything.

I can teach them what ‘present, active, imperative’ means; I cannot teach them to stand up to constructive criticism.