# Parents of stupid children want to ban honor rolls, spelling bees

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-stupid-children-want-to-ban-honor-rolls-spelling-bees/226164>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [January 26, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-stupid-children-want-to-ban-honor-rolls-spelling-bees/226164 "2004-01-26T16:01:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 36

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**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\
**Post date:** [January 26, 2004, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-of-stupid-children-want-to-ban-honor-rolls-spelling-bees/226164/36 "2004-01-26T22:27:43Z")

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> [@Bunnylady](#):
>
> 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?

Well, I went to a poor school in the south, and then only until the fifth grade. (No, I didn’t drop out, I started college.)

The most “intelligent” (relative) kids tended to be the “popular” kids. There were the “Honor Roll” “popular kids” and there were the ignorant white trash kids. (Not a slight against them, they couldn’t help it.) They never got ahead, languished in mediocrity and felt bad whenever a new honor roll was posted, as they were never on it. It is really more of a testament to the poor state of the American eductional system. But that, however, is a different thread.

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