Attendance is more important than performance
Anorexic student denied valedictorian title
Karen Scherr has been the top academic performance at Kingwood High School (Humble Independent School District) for four years running. Having the highest marks in the school won’t get her the Valedictorian title at this year’s graduation though. She has been denied the coveted senior honor for missing an attendance date in her junior year.
“I was disappointed,†said Scherr. “I’d hoped the rule would not have to be enforced.â€Â
Scherr was referring to a requirement that the school’s valedictorian be enrolled in classes by the 20th day of their junior year.
It’s a rule aimed at keeping students from other schools from transferring into Kingwood late in their high school careers to claim one of the coveted top 10 academic spots.
Scherr’s been in the Kingwood school system since kindergarten. But she wasn’t enrolled in her high school on that 20th day of her junior year.
Instead, she was in a treatment facility seeking help for the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa.
This boils down to a failure in logic. The rule is in place for a specific case - to prevent late enrollees in the system from taking the highest honors in the school. In this specific case the student passes the case. The rule itself fails to pass the case. A logical administration would recognize the case and modify the rule. This administration chose to engage a classic logical fallacy - Traditional Wisdom. Specifically, “The rule must be adhered to because we have followed the rule in the past”.
Contact information:
Principal Paula Almond
Superintendent Dr. Guy Sconzo
Deputy Superintendent John Miller
Board of Trustees President John B. Graves
Board of Trustees Vice President Dr. Bonnie Longnion
Board of Trustees Secretary Mike Sullivan
Board of Trustees Parliamentarian Jim Eggers
Board of Trustees Member Dave Martin
Board of Trustees Member Dr. Aaron B. Clevenson
Board of Trustees Member Lynn Fields
(Tip credit to Bob Jones, Rena Lowe and Annika Klein)
Sounds like an ADA lawsuit waiting to happen.
The question I would ask is when did she enter treatment? If she was in school on the last day of her sophomore year, in most systems, that would mean she was ENROLLED, but absent, at the beginning of her junior year.
On the other hand, and here I’m playing devil’s advocate, one could say that there were kids who managed high academic marks without having to check in to mental health facilities. I met a guy who consistently pulled a sub-2 hour time in Olympic distance triathlons, but also consistently dehydrated himself to the point that he needed intrvenous fluids after every race. Hydration management is part of the event, and many people felt he should be DQ’d. One can see parallels here - getting good grades is stressful, and stress is a contributor to mental illness. There, that’s some devil’s advocacy for everyone to chew on.
Good devil’s advocacy.
But unless we’re changing the definition of “top ten academic spots,” what that phrase means is “ten students with the highest grades.” No more, no less. “Valedictorian” usually means “student with the top grades,” no more, no less.
It does not say “student with the top grades who remained healthy while getting said grades.”
Also, anorexia is not primarily caused by academic stress, although that can be a factor. This girl’s anorexia could be caused by any of several reasons that have nothing to do with academics.
Valedictorian also does not generally mean “student with the top grades who also went to this school last year”.
apparently, this school has a problem with people transfering into the district in order to graduate with a high class rank after going to schools that i assume are easier, and then they come to this school to get the prestige of graduating top 10 from there. the rule is designed to prevent this, so i can almost understand the enrollment deadline. however, adherence to this rule in this case is not preventing what it was designed to prevent, it’s just enforcing a technicality. as nyt’s Randy Cohen (”the ethicist”) once said, “the blind application of rules isn’t ethics, it’s merely heartless.”
–adam
back to the diabolical advocacy, wikipedia says valedictorian status doesn’t have to be based on grades alone. A well rounded definition would encompass keeping all aspects of one’s life exemplary. Stress management is a varied practice - doing well in school is but one of many challenges that militate against one “holding it all together.”
The real rebuttal to this devil’s advocacy is that, if they want to apply a better rounded definition encompassing all the student’s “self management” then they should say so up front, in the criteria, and not misapply some matriculation requirement.
As far as well-roundedness goes, if the school wanted to include something like hours of community service or years of sports or whatnot into the decision process, I would think it was silly (after all, there are other awards for those things), but not a horrific injustice, as long as they were up front about it.
What really gets my goat about this case is that they’re punishing a student for having and seeking treatment for a mental illness. Anorexia is very hard to beat, and by entering a residential treatment program, she made a difficult and responsible choice to go through treatment. If anything, that should give her more “well-roundedness” points. What message does this send to other kids in the school who are struggling with mental illness?
Incidentally, nothing suggests that the school was going with a “well-rounded” definition of valedictorian. They’re probably going with GPA and this is just a stupidly blind application of a rule.
I continue to be amazed that we can find so many people who totally lack any common sense to run our schools. Even worse, we have absolutely no recourse once these idiotic decisions are made. These people would never make it in the “real” world. In the real “working world” you must use common sense and have “tolerance” for other’s behavior.
In school, “it’s zero-tolerance, zero common sense”. And we wonder why students rebel and drop out????
How do these administrators sleep at night???
Liam,
The problem is they were not up front about it. That’s the only legitimate issue not tied to debatable issues of personal philosophy.
As for seeking treatment being evidence of “well-roundedness” that’s a philosophical issue. One could argue that having the problem in the first place signals a coping issue. Remember, valedictorian awards are a method of rewarding achievement, and society should be free to define achievement in the way that serves society best, not what serves the individual’s self esteem best.
Remember, valedictorian awards are a method of rewarding achievement, and society should be free to define achievement in the way that serves society best, not what serves the individual’s self esteem best.
While I agree with that statement, I do think she stil deserves the fucking award. She missed just that one day. That’s not enough to say to her ‘Oh you skipped school, too fucking bad, no award for you!’.
SOME HELPFUL CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM FOR THE HUMBLE, TEXAS ISD
Hey,…All of you in the Humble ISD that don’t have the attention span of a gnat, aren’t reading below the third grade level (or can read at all,) and even know how to tie your shoes all by yourself, I thought that I’d let you all know that I can’t even begin to fathom how or why your greasy little paws are even allowed to come anywhere NEAR the educational electiprocess. What were you thinking, drinking, smoking or were you just sitting around in a persistent vegatative state when you made the brilliant and sexist decision to deny Karen Scherr her status of the Valedictorian of Kingwood High School? I guess I can see your point, though. Karen had the temerity, audacity, effrontery, nerve, cheek, gall and chutzpah to fight a recognized, potentially lethal, (but, unfortunately, politically incorrect) illness, while simultaneously keeping up to date on her school work. Who does think she is, anyway? A person with rights? Darned multi-taskers! Texans seem to me, for the most part, to be rational, compassionate, ethical, responsible, genuine, polite, educated, and nice people, except for people like the Humble ISD who churn out just enough morons who make decisions like….electing certain Governors,for instance. And, if you’re in the least bit curious as to see what people think of the Humble ISD, find someone who actually knows how to use a computer, and have them open the following ‘web address.’ (that’s what they’re called; see, you learned a new word today!)
http://www.zerointelligence.net/archives/000665.php
I am a student in the graduating class of this high school and I must say that Karen is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She is very smart and has handled the situation with great tenacity. Not only has she maintained the grades but during the four years of high school she was also on the tennis team, in orchestra, choir and also a member of an acting company. She is truly amazing and though it is wrong of the school to deny her of a title she has worked very hard for, she has gained the support of thousands and I’m sure she feels greatful for all who have helped her.
I think there are better ways to address this issue than to resort to name calling, especially if you aren’t in this area. You folks in Illinois sound like fools. How about minding your own business?
I think there are alot of people in this country, especially in Illinois, especially if your name is Jim Scherr, that need to mind their own business. They have no idea about the Humble-Kingwood area, and don’t realize most of those irrational, illogical, inane bureaucratic technicalities were written by peple who moved here from out of state. But it is more than that; it is a flagrant, bigoted, sexist discriminatory decision relating to a minor issue having nothing whatsoever to do with education that didn’t exist before these idiots from all over the midwest moved here by the tens of thousands and got on the school boards and argued about how they did it “up nawth”.
Leave us alone and deal with your own backyard issues.