Everyone Gets a Trophy
By Joe Rector
I’m old school when it comes to schools and education and make no apologies for being so. Spending 30 years in the classroom as a teacher should allow me to at least voice an opinion on the school system and the board’s decisions. I’m taking the liberty of putting my thoughts on a recent change to the status quo.
The Knox County School Board announced that it is changing the way academic success is acknowledged in each year’s graduating class. The change will begin in 2030. In its “infinite wisdom,” the board has decided to do away with the naming of valedictorians and salutations. In place of this practice, schools will begin recognizing the top 5% of the class by using the Latin honors system. That one confers the top 5% with “summa cum laude,” which means “with highest honors.”
The reason for adopting this system over the long-used valedictorian/salutatorian system is that it recognizes a larger number of students for academic achievement. Yep, the board defaulted to the ol’ “everybody gets a trophy” way of doing things. Why, we don’t want to hurt a student’s feelings by not publicly recognizing them. No longer is self-satisfaction with one’s hard work enough. A top grade isn’t a reward.
The hard, cold fact is that winners and losers exist in the world. In schools, one student outshines all others in the class. Yes, ties exist, but the weight of course difficulty breaks them. Instead of honoring the one person who stands above all others in academic achievement, if only by the slimmest percentage point, the school board caves to the multiple awards idea.
I suspect that another reason exists for the board’s changing merit system. More than one parent has pitched a fit when their children lost out to a classmate in the academic competition. The last thing board members want is a meeting room full of upset parents. So, the politician sides come out, and they begin to contort an accepted practice so that something new will soothe sore parents.
If a student graduates with excellent grades, she will receive money from Tennessee. The universities to which students go will offer academic scholarships and other rewards. Thousands of grants and scholarships are available to students. Perhaps parental anger could fuel internet searches for those funds that are never taken by students. Yes, that way, moms and dads can invest some time to uncover financial aid for their children.
Folks, not everything old is bad. The naming of a valedictorian for a class is a time-honored tradition. The competition is sometimes brutal, and, yes, all but one who enters the fray will lose, but they will have gained so much from the process, and our country will have profited by the development of students who have so much to offer.
Parents say they want schools that provide quality education. If that is the case, then they should demand that the Knox County School Board retain the valedictorian/salutatorian system. Tell the board that following national trends is not necessarily the right thing to do. At the same time, I doubt that keeping things the same will lead to hundreds of students swapping schools to find an easier place to become the top student. I sometimes wonder whether those in central offices and on boards realize that high school is so much more than just grades. It’s about friends, and activities, and heartbreaks, and championships, and lifetime friends. Folks, step back and let students learn how to become happy, eager individuals.
I’m glad that I no longer have to deal with the unimportant things of education. For this manufactured change, the response to a change to give more people a trophy and to keep disgruntled parents out of school offices might be “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
