This has never happened and it never WILL happen. A kid who walks around with a NHS pin whether he’s earned it or not is the subject of scorn from all social circles. Everyone would accuse such a student of being a self-important snot. No one shows school spirit by wearing a NHS pin.
But let’s say a special education student was wearing a NHS pin, and this student had excelled in his coursework and wasn’t perpetrating like he actually belonged to the NHS (he wasn’t showing up at the meetings or trying to get out of class for NHS-related activities). I really don’t see the harm in school administrators looking the other way. Sure, if it launched a trend, I might feel differently. But as long as it was isolated to one student…a student who’s in a marginalized position through no fault of his own, I’d give it a pass.
Protecting the hallowed virtue of a letter is hardly worth the negative press this has received.
If they sold NHS pins to the general public (like they apparently do with letters), I wouldn’t have a big problem with someone wearing it. I certainly wouldn’t make a student take it off.
Pretty much. It’s a different system, so they have a different award. I mean, you wouldn’t award the winning college football team the Lombardi Trophy, would you?
Either that, or allow the special ed teams to be elligible to earn letters, since that seems to be the case with the majority of schools in the area.
If it made the kid happy, I’d be cool with letting him wear the damn letter, being faux-joint valedictorian, and being given the key to the city. Maybe I’m being condescending and not treating him the way I should, but why not do easy things that make someone happy? The kids never gonna be CEO of Chrysler.
The parent who complained needs to be outed, ostracized and preferably ridden out of town on a rail. the kid gets his jacket back and douchebags can keep their fucking mouths shut on campus, or chew their teeth.
Is there any sane student who would be threatened by a special needs kid wearing a letter? I mean, I have no doubt it might be obvious that they didn’t earn it the same way as everyone else, right? I’d be utterly ashamed of myself if I felt upset by such a thing and I’d look more than a little askance at anyone I knew personally who did. Jeesh.
Because that’s not how the real world works. Happiness turns to despair when you paint false realities. By the time of high school, you can’t buy achievements without serving an ultimate detriment to the student.
The student was an active participant in an activity. What delusion are they clinging to exactly? It’s not like he wants a letter for taking out the trash.
It’s likely that the student will never experience the world with a view of reality that is the same as yours. He can probably not be made to understand why he can no longer wear his jacket at school. It’s hard enough for some of us without learning disabilities to understand.
In my high school, anyone who showed up wearing a letter he didn’t earn would have gotten his ass kicked until he decided wearing it wasn’t a good idea. I’m glad his school isn’t like mine was.
No, princess, what is pathetic is the scorn you are heaping on kids who put a lot of effort into becoming good at something. Something that will help many of them pay for a college education. Something that they find rewarding. My guess is you don’t have this same attitude towards band and the playing of musical instruments, though those things are nothing more than entertainment.
I know. I used to worship Batman but it has no value now that a 5-year old kid with leukemia was allowed to wear the hallowed uniform. My whole value system is destroyed and I’m in the depths of disillusion!
BTW, it seems that practically half the city was involved in that, including the mayor and the police department, which closed off streets and escorted the Batmobile. It was great!
If the lettered jocks are so freaking insecure about their precious emblems, as far as I’m concerned the jocks can go pound sand.
I’m actually a big fan of athletic achievement. I think varsity athletes who letter should be proud of that accomplishment. I’m old-fashioned enough to think that when done correctly, sports build character. One great display of character would be for varsity athletes to be compassionate toward a fellow student who is unable to compete in traditional athletics, but is participating to the best of his ability in a special needs athletic program.
I also think a grown woman who calls a school to complain about a special needs student wearing a letter has too much time on her hands. Is she imagining some scenario where an actual varsity athlete is going to miss out on a full-ride scholarship to Duke because the recruiter came to town, saw the special needs athlete wearing a varsity letter, and was so confused that the school gave the scholarship to this kid instead? Is it really to much to ask to let this kid enjoy his letter?
At my high school, and this was only eight years or so ago, letters were awarded on a points system for participating in any kind of off-campus competitive or performance activity, basically for representing the school. I lettered in Speech & Debate (twice, actually - I earned enough points for a letter by my Junior year, and by Senior year I had enough for a second letter. They gave you a little gold bar pin to attach to it.) They weren’t specifically tied to sports, or to varsity students. You could get one for marching band, drama, whatever, as long as you were representing the school off-campus.
Seems to me like the best way to do it. The special-needs kids could earn them by competing in Challenger or other special-needs games. Everyone wins.
Are you American? How do you not know this? Every state has a high school athletic association that regulates high school sports. There are rules for every varsity sport regarding eligibility, practices, schedules, regulations, etc. Schools have their own rules regarding “earning a letter,” but at a minimum it requires actually being on the varsity team to get a varsity letter. (This can get dicey, in tennis, for example, because JV players will occasionally “play up”, although they’re not on varsity. At my school, 3 varsity matches get you a letter.)
Yes, “Varsity Letters” are “awarded” for non-athletic activities, such as band, drama, debate, and quiz bowl, but these are clearly marked for the activity. (Also, there are requirements for academic letters, too, such as 3 years for band, 3 productions for Drama, etc.)
This kid was NOT a varsity athlete, and his mother bought him a jacket that said he was. He wasn’t. The Down’s Syndrome is irrelevant.
I don’t know why the school has to show any significant harms in order to ban the kid from pretending to have played varsity basketball. “These are our rules,” should be good enough. I think it would be condescending and insulting for the school to say, “Well, these are our rules for non-retarded kids, but since you’re in a different category the rules don’t apply to you.” The school is doing him a kindness by treating him like everyone else.
I suppose one possible compromise would be to allow him to wear the letter jacket but without any of the smaller patches that indicates the sport lettered in.
I never used the word “retarded.” Read my post. Nice job of pulling off the prefix. Ah, who cares about accuracy in anything, right? What matters are people’s feelings.
