The Scoop: Top 10 students deserve recognition
I don’t like our school system’s decision to stop publicizing the top 10 students in each graduating class.
Now let me count the ways.
First and foremost, I should start with this bit of background information. The school board determined years ago that this year’s seniors – the class of 2004 – would not be announced in top 10 form. The top two students would be recognized as valedictorian and salutatorian, or in the case of this year, as co-valedictorians.
That means students No. 3 through No. 10 are now out of luck. No congratulations for making top 10. School officials don’t want your picture on the front page of the Standard.
Records on class rank will still be maintained, in part for college admission purposes. The No. 3 student will still know he or she is No. 3. The only difference is now the rest of the community won’t have a clue.
I say honoring the top 10 students is a fitting reward for years of hard work and tireless dedication. Earning grades high enough to be among the top 10 students from a class of over 350 is not too shabby. It’s more impressive than killing a deer or catching a bass – and we publish those pictures all the time.
What I don’t understand is the explanation. We’re told kids who just miss the top 10 may have their feelings hurt. We’re told it may be too competitive and that’s bad for self-esteem.
Now let’s fast forward a few months down the road. These same kids will be treated to a graduation ceremony where they will surely be told about “the new journey they are about to face because graduation isn’t an end but a new beginning.” These kids will hear about the competitive “real world” they are about to enter. They will be told how their high school skills will help them scratch and claw their way to the top.
We need to keep praising the top 10 students because it is competitive. And it shows our fine young adults about to enter the “real world” that hard work does pay off. Establishing a goal – and then obtaining it – is worth something.
What really irks me is rewarding students for mediocrity, like having an awards day and giving every kid in school a prize so as not to damage anyone’s feelings. That’s not an awards day. It’s welfare work.
No wonder some students grow up and think they should be given something for nothing. They were taught in school they can slack off and just barely squeak by, and then they’re recognized at the end of the year during awards day.
It’s like forming a summer ball league and then not keeping score. After all, the kids are just playing for fun.
I say a little competition is good for the soul. It gives us something to strive for, a reason to try a little harder than the next guy. And by high school, kids are more than ready.
We don’t have to look back any further than last Friday’s Lady Pioneer basketball game. It’s a game the high school girls team lost at the buzzer after holding a two-point lead with just seconds remaining. The other team drilled a three-pointer and handed Warren County an agonizing loss.
For players on that team, that loss was no doubt tough to handle. But if it didn’t hurt just a bit, there would be no reason to strive to get better. If it wasn’t painful, the Lady Pioneers wouldn’t mind settling for a one-point loss at the buzzer every night.
Sure, there are far most pressing matters in this world than deciding not to honor the top 10 students in a graduating class. But in this day when kids face so many pressures and negative influences, it’s worth the effort to shine a spotlight on the bright, young minds of this community. Or maybe school officials think we should fill the space by publishing the Meth Lab of the Week.
(James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].)