Comments on: Dissing honor roll

By: A Smart Woman

A Smart Woman — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 14:32:00 +0000

Wake up people. This isn’t about attacking the character of a high school Principal. You should all be ashamed of yourselves and if you ever met Paul Richards you would feel horrible for saying these things about he and his family.

Do you really think he makes these decisions on his own (and a little perspectiver here–it isn’t as if they CANCELLED the honor roll–like SO MANY OTHER PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE ALREADY DONE, AROUND THE COUNTRY!–THIS ISN’T A NEW IDEA!) it is a committee-wide decision that gets made after several meetings between school officials, parents and students.

And understand one more thing: SCHOOL IS NOT VOLUNTARY, SPORTS ARE–ACHIEVEMENTS IN SCHOOL AND SPORTS CANNOT BE COMPARED–I think some of you need to go back to grade one, or at least leave New England or the country for one minute to understand the way the rest of the world works.

By: Kathy Hansen

Kathy Hansen — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 13:10:21 +0000

Principal Richards has no right whatsoever to have a higher salary than say the janitor in his school. Make the janitor feel better about himself by paying Richards minimum wage.

By: Bill Leonard

Bill Leonard — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:56:46 +0000

GradSchoolMom, I am not and never have been an educator. I am, however, a parent, and now, a grandparent. I’ve put kids through high school and college.

And I still believe that those who earn high grades — the honor roll crowd, if you will — ought to be recognized for their achievement.

I don’t know what world Principal Paul Richards lives in, but it sure isn’t related to the one I grew up in, or the one my sons encountered in school. In that world, the best athletes will always be recognized. The handsomest, best-looking kids will always be the most popular — at least until the real world of work and life intrude. Then, the high achievers usually get recognized for their efforts.

Meanwhile, keep publishing the names of the honor roll kids.

By: Andy Freeman

Andy Freeman — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 03:54:20 +0000

I note that none of the problems are addressed by the principal’s solution. Does that suggest incompetence or that the solution isn’t meant to address the problems?

By: Mamacita

Mamacita — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 03:25:15 +0000

I can then assume that this principal will stop keeping score at any and all sports events, as the emphasis will be on the participation and attitude of each player, rather than any kind of ability or actual accomplishment or product?

By: Nancy

Nancy — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:37:04 +0000

There is no mention that the Needham community has experienced 4 teen suicides in the past 2 years. The suffering is terrible.

All other factors aside, honor roll is not perceived as fair. It is based on letter grades and not level of classes. An AP B is equivalent to a non-college prep B. There is widespread cheating in the community, especially in the advanced classes. There is extreme favoritism for certain students who have connections or money or even just parents with loud voices. Grades are often based on resources students have available. Does Dad work at MIT? Do your science fair project in his lab, get a top grade, bring honor to your teacher. Please.

If everyone is so worried about achievement, publish everybody’s SAT scores in the paper. That would be completely objective. That would solve the whole problem.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:30:30 +0000

Thr principal is correct. In his high school a focus on grades is obviously unhealthy. Thank goodness the staff, students and community have self esteem to fall back upon. That and a buck will buy coffee at any McDonald’s in America.

By: Catch Thirty Thr33

Catch Thirty Thr33 — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:06:11 +0000

GradSchoolMom – No, I am not an educator, just a victim of educators . But in your example, what irks me about that is that the academic achievement matters not many times – its the proving to the world that you REALLY are “well-rounded” that irks me. Why should I, or anyone else in the world, be obligated to prove to the world how “well-rounded” we are? What if we WANT to be one- or two- dimensional because those one or two dimensions are where our passions lie?
I don’t think children – or really, anyone over the age of, say, one day – should be obligated to do things they perhaps really DON’T want or feel the need to do in order to prove to everyone that they are “well rounded” or involved. How does spending every waking hour of one’s life centered on a high school that will be in the long run a very short chapter of life prove anything to anyone?
I’d much rather see a college admission system – or an educational world in general – that values academic achievement above all else. I say, publish the kids’ names that are on the honor roll and determine who gives the valedictory speech in the basis of GPA only, not on how many “extracurricular activities”(I hated that phrase in high school) and athletics one happens to be involved in. All of that is nice, and if the kids LIKE to do all that, great! But why demand all of the other kids do them through means like college admissions and other lures?

By: david foster

david foster — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 15:44:11 +0000

“there are lots of other ways that students achieve, such as in clubs, musicals, concerts, athletics and community service”…and, of course, the local newspapers never run stories on high school ball games, theatricals, etc.

Seems to me that an extraordinarily high proportion of K-12 administrators are people who actually have a strong dislike for the acquisition of knowledge.

By: GradSchoolMom

GradSchoolMom — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:52:26 +0000

Are you all parents also, or just teachers that have responded to this? I have been against the policy of removing all competition out of education to protect our precious self-esteems, but this high-achievement stress has gotten totally out of hand. I think I’m going to throw up if I read one more article about a student with a 4.5 GPA who volunteers 20 hours a week at the local soup kitchen while heading every club she belongs and winning most valuable player on the team – and don’t forget about her current research into stem cells! I have nothing against brilliant, high-achievers but they should simply be appreciated and not held up as the standard. Average students are being pushed to achieve higher and higher. As a mother of 3 teenage sons, I feel the result is going to be less achievement from this generation rather than more. My sons and most of their friends from the Honors classes are already feeling burn-out in the 10th grade. Most are discussing not attending college, but most will because Mom and Dad say they have to. I think that grades, honor rolls and honor societies may need to go away until today’s parents get over them.