Enough with this “self-esteem” shit. I’m sick of parents who can’t stand it that their precious little brats might not be perfect in every way. If their little shits were ON the honor roll they wouldn’t have a problem with it. Because their own kids can’t be at the top they want to remove all measures of academic success for other kids and to deprive them of recognition and reward.
These parents aren’t doing their kids any favors. In the real world those kids aren’t going to get fucking anywhere because they’re “special” and no one’s going to give a flying fuck about their self-esteem.
Not only should we keep rewarding the kids who work hard and succeed, we should bring back the dunce cap for the lazy and the willfully stupid kids. A little humiliation is good for the soul. If you never have expectations for your kids, if everything they do is recognized as equally significant, then NOTHING they do is significant but they wind up thinking that everything they touch is gold. You get little narcissists with no self-awareness, no work ethic, no appreciation of others. That’s how we get those self-deluded idiots at American Idol auditions who are utterly stunned to be told they don’t have talent.
We already have children’s sports leagues which don’t keep score, baseball teams which don’t count balls and strikes, etc. When does it fucking end. Will we have to get rid of the Super Bowl? How about the Nobel Prize? We don’t want to make the dumber scientists feel bad, and that Peace Prize…let’s not humiliate the evil people. :rolleyes:
When I was in school (~8 years ago,) there really was a great deal of gloating and cliques around academic achievement rosters. The kids lacking in support for a proper education did have a hard time.
But this is nothing new. No matter what, kids are gonna be mean and selfish little shits who ostracize the “dummies” and the underachievers anyway. All this does is piss of the “popular” kids and give them a reason to harrass the others even more, for taking away their prestige.
Glad my daughter got her academic letter last year as a HS frosh.
Silly me - I thought the availability of letters for academics and music were a step in the right direction. Such recognition should be reserved for those activities that reflect the highest achievements of high schools - sports.
Of course, I think it unfair to restrict athletic honors - or even team participation - to folks who are simply fortunate enough to be gifted with various strengths, coordination, and abilities, or who have worked hard to develop their athletic skills…
This is a mild coincidence, because in the Reality TV thread I put forth a mild rant about the terrible AI contestants and speculated that their deep belief in their own musical talent despite the obvious fact that they do not was due to the treacle of a feel-good curriculum, and here’s Deet C with a rant about the feel-good curriculum and speculating that these are the AI contestants of the future.
I like the idea of having the AI crew jure spelling bees.
Contestant: I-D-E-L-L. I want to be the nex’ American Idol. I-D-E-L-L.
Simon: That was bloody awful. You couldn’t spell “cat” if we spotted you the C and the A.
Contestant: It was my nerves. Let me go again.
Randy: Dawg, you can’t spell.
Paula: Simon is that a No?
Simon: That’s a never.
Contestant: But I really can spell. My mom says I can.
Paula: Randy?
Randy: No. Sorry, Dog.
Paula (nicely): Sorry, I guess that’s a no.
OUT IN HALL
Ryan: So you can’t spell?
Contestant (angry, tearful): Those arrogant jerks. I can so spell. Those [bleeps] wouldn’t know spelling if um… [blank look]
Ilsa, I was frankly stunned when I read your post. I’d love to know where you went to school, and take a time-machine back there!
When I was in school, I was one of the “bright kids.” It was NOT the key to popularity. We never ostracized the “dummies” - C students were normal, and honest-to-God learning disabilities got “special ed” (this was before “mainstreaming”).
WE were ostracized as the teachers’ pets and curve-breakers, and thought of as out-of-touch geeks. We were most certainly NOT the “popular clique!” The popular ones, the ones that put other people down, were the average-intellect (non-threatening), good looking, athletically-inclined and well-dressed.
So I was on the honor roll every semester, National Honor Society. Big deal. It looked good on college applications, but it sure as hell didn’t get me any dates. The mass of the student body didn’t even look at the honor roll.
Other “eggheads” chime in - was my experience, or Ilsa_Lund’s more like yours?
I didn’t know whether or not to turn this into an opportunity to make a joke or not, so I’ve separated my remarks into two parts. The first part will consist of the realistic, anger-filled rant. The second part will contain the joke.
Ready?
This is completely asinine. Recognizing those that perform well is one of the best ways to motivate kids to achieve, and one of the primary ways educators can motivate borderline students to do better.
And I’ll tell you another thing, I’m sick and tired of schools constantly catering to the stupidest common denominator instead of working harder to bring slower students up to the standard that truly challenges kids. We’re doing no one any favors by churning out the next generation of toilet-moppers and french fry technicians.
Since this is Tennessee we’re talking about, wouldn’t it be easier to simply list the achieving students on a 3x5 index card? It can’t be a lengthy list.
And meanwhile, I’ve heard teachers suggest it would be a good idea to stop the public display of the honor roll, because the students listed might be in danger of violent retribution from the ones who want someone to take out their anxieties about school on.
You took the words right out of – excuse me, outta – my mouth, Homebrew. When I was in school (high school class of 1967), the academic achievers weren’t the popular kids – not unless they were also very good-looking, or star athletes, or both. Bunnylady, I’m with you. Life as a bright kid was UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLY MISERABLE HELL in school, and worst of all in high school. What pittances of recognition we got were nothing compared to the vicious crap of our “average” schoolmates.
I’m put in mind of the bumper sticker I see now and then: “My kid beat up your honor roll student!”
I can’t say that I’m surprised by this article, but for very different reasons that Ilsa. I mean, parents of mediocre students trying to do away with the honor roll isn’t exactly a new thing. When I was in sixth grade ('87-'88), my cousin’s dad led a campaign to do away with the honor roll and the gifted education program, because it made her feel bad not to make the cut for either. I remember thinking at the time, “I’m too clumsy for the basketball team, and not pretty enough for the cheerleading squad, so does that mean we should get rid of those, too? Moron.”
My experiences growing up were pretty in line with Bunnlady’s. You could get by as an academic achiever, but only if you were also pretty, well-dressed, and able to downplay it by achieving in a lot of other stuff, too. My friend Courtney is a perfect example–she was always pretty, vivacious, effortlessly fashionable, and very talented a lot of other areas, so she could geek it with the geeks, and still have the popular kids hang out with her.
I just can’t seem to remember honour rolls from the 60’s era when I went to grade school. All the emphasis was on marks. Of course we asked each other what their marks were to assess the relative value of our own achievement but that was never published.
My eldest made the honours roll for the first time in her last year of high school. She definitely was a late bloomer. Up till that time I never really paid much attention to them .
Last year our second child graduated grade 6, and the honour rolls were published in the paper. Our second daughter had very good marks all year, straight A’s. She didn’t give a hoot about the honour roll yet she was in it, but my wife and I were eager to see how the daughter of a friend of ours made out. Why? There is constantly an undercurrent of feeling from her that she thinks her parenting skills are superior to ours. She is very strict and demanding. With smug satisfaction we noted that her daughter was absent.
I’m not proud of this reaction of ours, but I mention this in support of my opinion that the publication of the honour roll serves no useful purpose for the student. Parents should focus on the achievements of their own child rather than concerning themselves with the relative achievements of other children.
When we get older, we tend to get measured
by our net worth. Do we need to have published all the people who are worth over $500,000 ?
You’ve figured out the secret! Fox is behind the entire breakdown of society, as a giant ratings ploy!!! When you think about it, it just makes sense!!!
Seriously, the parents in the OP should be killed. Violently.
I’m another bright nerd who got beat up by the jocks. I still remember the shock and bewilderment on the faces of kids who couldn’t believe that anyone would read a book for “fun.”
