01/26/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
Underachievers' parents deny honor students
By Matt Gouras, AP by way of The Seattle Times
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 considering a ban on hanging good work in the hallways - at the advice of school lawyers.
After a few parents complained their children might be ridiculed for not making the list, school-system lawyers warned that state privacy laws forbid releasing academic information, good or bad, without permission.
Some schools since have put a stop to academic pep rallies. Others think they may have to cancel spelling bees. And schools across the state may follow Nashville's lead.
The change has upset many parents who want their children recognized for hard work.
"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."
Most states follow federal student privacy guidelines, which allow the release of such things as honor rolls, Department of Education officials said.
"It's the first time I've heard of schools doing that," said Jim Bradshaw, department spokesman.
But Nashville school lawyers based their decision last month on a state privacy law dating to the 1970s - a law not always followed because no one challenged the honor-roll status quo.
School officials are developing permission slips to give parents of the district's 69,000 students the option of having their children's work recognized. They hope to receive clearance before the next grading cycle.
Until then, principals will try to figure out what is acceptable.
Sandy Johnson, chief instructional officer for the Nashville schools, says the restrictions go "far beyond the honor role."
"It's for anything having to do with grades and attendance or anything normally reserved just for the student or parent," she said.
It is good to see that the forces of mediocrity are still hard at work at the task of dumbing down America. This is the next step in the "Everybody is a Winner" movement. First we had everybody gets a trophy, regardless of who wins. Then there was good grades and honor roll all around. Now this farce.
This is the example I used the last time the subject came up:
Little Bobby led his league in home runs and was almost solely responsible for his teams record season. Little Billy was able to not hit himself in the nuts with the bat more than five times in one season. Yet somehow they are both winners. This mentality is no good for anyone. If you are inept and no good at something, not only are you not going to find out, but if you do, there is no motivation to improve yourself because you are already a winner. If you excel in something your ability becomes trivial because you get the same amount of credit as the kid who holds the bat by the wrong end. Again, what is the motivation to improve oneself?By saying "your child doing well is making my child look bad" these parents of "underachieving children" are shirking their responsibilities, as well as disrupting a system of positive reinforcement that has functioned well for time untold.
If this trend continues, were will it find its end? Will Little Susie be penalized for earning straight As? Will Tiny Tim be suspended for scoring the winning touchdown? Will the "educated" become pariahs due to the fact that they are "better" then the norm? What would a society be like where it is frowned upon to excel or be better then ones peers? History shows us where that road leads, I see that road approaching once again, it is a dark path indeed.
2 Annotations Submitted
Monday the 26th of January, rafuzo noted:
Will Little Susie be penalized for earning straight As?...What would a society be like where it is frowned upon to excel or be better then ones peers?
Well, when little Srinivasan comes here with no money and builds a massively successful tech company with little more than his intelligence and 80-hour work weeks, he gets a 45% marginal tax rate. Meanwhile, little Cleatus flunks out of college and loses his job at the gas station and he gets subsidies.
Monday the 26th of January, santo26 noted:
not only are the childr- i, mean, veal of today barred from any non- sanctioned social activity, let alone playing outside unsupervised, they are being stripped of the desire to achieve! if the bully who beats you up every day will get the same grades as you do, what is the point of doing your homework? why don't they just cut to the chase and call them "free day care for ages 5- 18" instead of schools?
