No tolerance for honor students
School Honor Rolls Under Privacy Scrutiny
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The school honor roll, a time-honored system for rewarding A-students, has become an apparent source of embarrassment for some underachievers.
As a result, all Nashville schools have stopped posting honor rolls, and some are also considering a ban on hanging good work in the hallways — all at the advice of school lawyers.
How dare we celebrate excellence? Why, if you tell somebody that they are doing a good job, the people who you don’t tell that to might feel bad.
It gets worse though.
Some schools have since put a stop to academic pep rallies. Others think they may have to cancel spelling bees. And now schools across the state may follow Nashville’s lead.
Competitions only serve to make the loser feel bad. They should all be eliminated. I imagine that the next step is to cancel all of the sports programs as they are there solely to humiliate the loser.
“This is as backward as it gets,” said Miriam Mimms, who has a son at Meigs Magnet School and helps run the Parent Teacher Association. “There has to be a way to come back from the rigidity.”
The problem appears unique to Tennessee, since most states follow federal student privacy guidelines, which allow the release of such things as honor rolls, U.S. Department of Education officials said.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of schools doing that,” said department spokesman Jim Bradshaw.
…
Sandy Johnson, chief instructional officer for the Nashville schools, says the restrictions go “far beyond the honor role.”
…
“So far, what we’ve heard parents say is ‘This is crazy; spend your time doing other things,’” said Teresa Dennis, principal at Percy Priest Elementary School. “It does seem really silly.”
So at least there are some people still capable of rational thought in Nashville. Will it help? No.
“The rationale was, if there are some children that always make it and others that always don’t make it, there is a very subtle message that was sent,” [Principal Steven Baum] said. “I also understand right to privacy is the legal issue for the new century.”
Baum thinks spelling bees and other publicly graded events are leftovers from the days of ranking and sorting students.
“I discourage competitive games at school,” he said. “They just don’t fit my world view of what a school should be.”
So long as the Baums are making decisions, this sort of idiocy will continue.
Other write-ups at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler and Frizzen Sparks
Also posted at Delusional Duck
(Tip credit to Clancy)
“The rationale was, if there are some children that always make it and others that always don’t make it, there is a very subtle message that was sent,” [Principal Steven Baum] said.
I notice the article didn’t say what the “subtle message” was, but I suspect that might have been because the principal didn’t say it. It’s obvious he didn’t consider the not-so-subtle message being sent: Principal Steven Baum is as dumb as a post.
I never thought of honor rolls as a competition, just a way of showcasing achievement. If schools posted lists of the D students, then I’d say there’s a problem.
But, if someone actually cared about their placement on an honor roll, wouldn’t s/he work harder to get there?
I think that the reason honor rolls exist is because achievement is nothing if it’s in a vacuum. Achievement is achievement because it’s rewarded.
Maybe next we’ll try to stop hurting students feelings by keeping their grades secret from their parents. And their teachers. And themselves. We’ll do away with testing, then we can do away with classes and close the schools.
In my opinion, grading should be personal, like someone’s “taxes”, “paycheck”, “health-records”,
etc. “Personalized information” data. If someone
WANTS to share their grades, whether passing or
failing, it should be done in a modest manner.
Something to boast of, is not the “Correct” motivation for “make good grades”, (love of knowledge should be)..and it is not the Proper
Motivator in social or job situations either I
might add. This “need” to be bragged about is
immature, and it feeds on a sinister type of Pride, (all pride being this)…and then feeds on the downcasting of
others with learning disabilites, (which is exactly what “failing grades” are). Something
totally ignored by many, the teachers, and the
fellow students also, is that “SCHOOL” is where we should be able to go and learn to learn. There
COULD be mentoring of more easily educated students,(”honor rollers”) toward others that learn with more
effort ie (”disability”).There isn’t because, the
students with all the “A’s”, love the grandear and
the PRIDE of their fame, they are NOT taught the
GOOD CITIZENSHIP which could be there, of loving
one’s neighbor, and helping other people. So, over
the years the same schooling turns out the same kind of society,… basically a very uncaring society,..and a NON Christian behaving one at that. Though, the people become financially
“successful”, they have missed the mark of a true
success, which is to see in the world a greater purpose
than just SELF service”. To care at large, for
the world of humans who suffer and to do whatever
one can to come to aid of others, basically first in your own neighborhood, and community, Instead, the individuals continue to become
more “spoiled”, and “self serving”… Perpetuating this quality, generation after generation. The mentality of the braggart. We
see it often, from one place or the other, it’s
out there, in the work place, and in the university, etc. A COLDNESS we just can’t put
our finger on, or understand where it came from.
I disagree, Jaylyn. Celebrating success is necessary to promote success. If we can’t say “good job” to a good student for fear of harming a bad one, how is that good student ever going to know they’ve done well?
Praise the children who do the best. Cheer for the sports team. Try your best to knock out the other side in a game of dodge ball. Competition is healthy and leads to strong, well adjusted and able youths.
Saying that all poor students are disabled is a bit of a stretch as well. A student of average intelligence who applies himself will excell. The same student who lays about will fail. Neither of these students is especially gifted or disabled.
The root of this is the federal law called the Family Educational Right to Privacy Act, or FERPA. The consequences for divulging a student’s information is loss of federal money.
If a school reports that Johnny was not in the “All A” categy it means he got a grade less than A and therefore his personal information has been revealed.
Stupid, but I’m just the messenger.