Archive: Opinions

The awards given out at Lansing high School graduation came in for some criticism a month or two ago when a parent told the Board of Education that that part of the ceremony is too long, taking away from the joy of the achievement of graduating from high school, especially for those graduates who did not receive awards.  That reminded me that for the first time I know of there was no valedictorian or salutatorian at this year's commencement.  I remember thinking that it was odd not to recognize the very best of the academic best, especially in a school district that values its reputation for excellence.

I have given it a lot of thought since then, and I have to come out on the side of crotchety, old fashioned, and not at all politically correct.  Not honoring the top achievers implies that there are no standards at all, and serves to discourage those who want to achieve.  By telling our students that any level of achievement is valued the same, we are telling them 'why bother to work when I can get a degree anyway?'  In making every student feel valued we strip all the value out of the achievement.  When everybody wins, everybody loses.

Graduating from high school is a monumental achievement.  No doubt about it, finishing 13 years of school despite the fact that we were too young to know what we were signing up for, is one of the biggest commitments any of us fulfill.  The average length of a marriage that ends in divorce in the U.S. is eight years.  That's adults who can't stick it out.  The average length of time it takes to graduate high school is 13 years.  And those are children who do that.

However, just because someone got all As when someone else got Bs or Cs or whatever the minimum to graduate is these days doesn't mean that graduating high school isn't an amazing achievement.  It takes a high goal to reach any goal.  Most of us don't reach 100% of the goals we set, but that doesn't keep us from trying.  I don't believe that getting the top grades in your class makes you a worthier person than someone who did average work.  But somehow it has become a good idea to discourage top achievers so that lesser achievers will feel better.

Bad idea.  Here is the reality.  Some people do better at some things than others.  Sometimes we are jealous of those people.  Sometimes we just want to throw praise at them for doing what we all agree is a good thing.  It's just real life.  It's going to happen whether we call it something warm and fuzzy, or call it like it is.  Shouldn't school be the place to learn that important life lesson?

I can't make microwave popcorn without burning it for the life of me.  My wife makes a perfect bag almost every time.  Does that make me unworthy?  Well, OK, she is a much better person that I am, but not because the is the Popcorn Queen of Lansing.  And besides, there are some people who like burned popcorn.  (Wouldn't it be handy if I were one of them?)

I am not a sports fan, but I absolutely understand why fans latch onto a team and feel such euphoria when that team wins.  When the team looses on a regular basis, those fans create a mythology about the team.  Years ago the Chicago Cubs was one of those teams that you just had to love even though they didn't win.  They were actually known as the 'lovable losers' back in the day.  I expect their fans would have preferred a winning team, but they understand someone has to win and someone has to lose in baseball.  The people I knew acknowledged the Cubs didn't win, but they dealt with it in positive, affirming ways.

As for the awards section of the commencement ceremony, I don't think the people and companies see it as an opportunity for self promotion as their primary goal in offering a scholarship or award.  Is part of the motivation for some?  Sure.  Full disclosure: the Lansing Star offer a modest award each year, and we did it at the suggestion of the editor of a previous Lansing newspaper, who told me it would increase awareness of the Star.  But there was no question in our minds that we wanted to be encouraging to local youth and help them to the best of our modest ability.  Any good exposure that comes from that is lovely, but it isn't our prime motivation, nor is it the primary reason any of the people I know who offer scholarships do what they do.

Should it take that much time in the commencement ceremony or be part of a separate ceremony before graduation?  That I don't know.  It takes about as much time as handing out the diplomas, so I think separating the ceremonies is probably a good discussion to have, though I don't know what the best outcome would be.

Education has long been happily traversing the political correctness slope, and while many of the ideas are good, they erode core values that make -- dare I say it? America great.  Should every child be valued?  Of course.  Should kids be made to feel bad because other kids had more success academically or in sports or art or music or drama?  Of course not.  But instead of being told it's OK to feel bad when someone else does better they should be taught to think highly of those people while valuing themselves for being the kind of person they are.  Or using them as role models.  Few of us become our heroes, but we become better by trying to emulate them.

It is also important to separate rewarding high achievement and making sure that others who may feel badly that they didn't do as well are undervalued.  The former says we set high standards and celebrate who members of our community achieve them.  The latter, when done right, is called bullying.  The former does not equate to the latter.  Not honoring our top achievers says that we are willing to accept mediocrity at any cost, and ends up dishonoring all of us.  It says why bother?

So seriously, does the fact that we also give kudos to children who did the best at getting through those years of school diminish the achievement of simply getting that diploma?  Of course it doesn't.  Does it heap glory on the whole community in which those high achievers thrived?  Yup, it does.

I am going with glory.

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