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HS graduates receive participation awards


Beerball

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One poor soul in that class earned the title of "salutatorian" which, in addition to the ignominy of being the first loser, had the added curse of being seated next to you at graduation.

 

Trust me, I sat alone. The school administration couldn't force anyone to sit next to me.

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Good point. I just used ACT/SAT because the school did.

 

But you can still devise an entirely in-school tie breaker.

 

Seems like a tie-breaker is necessary. I can understand an occasional tie; but 7% of the class is tied? They need a tie breaker.

 

It's called grading harder.

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I'd agree, but they also have to score 29 and 1200 or better on the ACT and SAT,

 

Crap, 1200 used to be a good score, didn't realize it was based on 2400 these days. 29 is still a good ACT score, right?

 

Really 1200 is a good score? Mine was 1580 when max was 1600 and now max score is 2400 (3*800).

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You're right, everybody wins.

 

They all had exactly the same grades. What do you think the tiebreaker should be? They seemed to make it a bit harder and send it to overtime this year by making the SAT/ACT rules this year along w/community service.

 

What's wrong w/a win-win culture? The problem is the zero-sum world that you seem to espouse and get confused w/"participation." Like Gugny said, they met the incentives & requirements and they all came out equal.

 

A win-win world is better than a zero-sum world. I think that is the point they may be trying to make. The funny thing it is happening in FLA. Whoda thunk! We must be in The Twilight Zone!

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

No. 7.3% won. They shouldn't all be named Valedictorian, but they sure as hell deserve recognition.

 

Getting just the diploma is a participation award for the other 92.7% of the kids.

Unless all this translates into a J-O-B, it's a waste of everyone's time.

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I don't see a problem with this. He's had problems with his mouth in the past. Why would they let him get up and speak? I don't care how smart he is, or that he was #1 in his class. He's obviously a punk who lost his right to give a speech at graduation by being a punk.

 

That's a consequence. Which that generation needs more of, if you ask me.

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I see they did an excellent job of preparing him to not question government Big Brother.

 

Would be nice to see his classmates have the balls to boycott the graduation en masse.

 

Sounds more like they didn't want him to speak because he'd probably ditch his canned speech and use the platform obnoxiously.

 

Then some guidance counselor overreacted to something he said so now he can't attend. But that wasn't the original action.

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I don't see a problem with this. He's had problems with his mouth in the past. Why would they let him get up and speak? I don't care how smart he is, or that he was #1 in his class. He's obviously a punk who lost his right to give a speech at graduation by being a punk.

 

That's a consequence. Which that generation needs more of, if you ask me.

 

I'd prefer to let him learn the consequence of being a punk who used his graduation platform irresponsibly (he'd almost certainly regret it in the future); if that's what he chose to do (we'll never know).

 

Not a big fan of butt-hurt bureaucrats taking that decision away from him.

Edited by KD in CT
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I don't see a problem with this. He's had problems with his mouth in the past. Why would they let him get up and speak? I don't care how smart he is, or that he was #1 in his class. He's obviously a punk who lost his right to give a speech at graduation by being a punk.

 

That's a consequence. Which that generation needs more of, if you ask me.

What problems has he had with his mouth, specifically? Or are you just taking the word of the teachers, who probably don't enjoy being challenged about anything, especially by someone mentally superior to them?

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What problems has he had with his mouth, specifically? Or are you just taking the word of the teachers, who probably don't enjoy being challenged about anything, especially by someone mentally superior to them?

 

I think we can both agree that we're both speculating. Neither of us knows the facts. But yeah .. I'm taking the word of the teachers. And I'm guessing being challenged by a kid smarter than them isn't what they didn't enjoy; I'm guessing he went beyond challenging. He's still a student. They're still his teachers.

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I think we can both agree that we're both speculating. Neither of us knows the facts. But yeah .. I'm taking the word of the teachers. And I'm guessing being challenged by a kid smarter than them isn't what they didn't enjoy; I'm guessing he went beyond challenging. He's still a student. They're still his teachers.

I agree that we're both speculating. I just personally don't buy into the thought that being a teacher means that they should automatically be deferred to in any academic situation involving a student. In my experience, teachers have not always necessarily known how to deal with gifted students. Honest discourse could have been construed as a disruption to them.

 

I could be wrong. He could have just been a d***. The 90 student protest organized that I believe was organized by the National Honor Society President leads me to believe that the transgressions couldn't have been bad enough to deserve this, but again, I'm speculating.

Edited by LBSeeBallLBGetBall
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I agree that we're both speculating. I just personally don't buy into the thought that being a teacher means that they should automatically be deferred to in any academic situation involving a student. In my experience, teachers have not always necessarily known how to deal with gifted students. Honest discourse could have been construed as a disruption to them.

 

I could be wrong. He could have just been a d***. The 90 student protest organized that I believe was organized by the National Honor Society President leads me to believe that the transgressions couldn't have been bad enough to deserve this, but again, I'm speculating.

 

Money talks. Especially to high schoolers. Typical "rich kid thinks he's entitled to being an ass hole," situation, in my opinion.

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Interesting.

 

To try to put it (everything... Bit of tangent w/regard to above link) into perspective. I work for the gov't @ a field site/location. Say one boss @ a field site gives their employees all high ratings on their evals. One boss @ another site tends to grade hard and rarely gives the higher marks. What happens when both sites have to compete against each other? Who's @ an advantage... Who's @ a disadvantage?

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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It's just a new application of an old label. Meh. No biggie. What I find more interesting is that at least one of those schools actually added new requirements - ACT/SAT scores and community service. That's sure a positive. My only concern is if the reason for so many great grades is that the tests and grading throughout the year is easy. That obviously a real possibility.

Edited by BarleyNY
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My high school banned "honors" labels and just awarded graduation speeches based on a competition. Any student in the class could submit a speech. The faculty picked whichever one they liked the best. The administration didn't want the less accomplished students in the graduating class to feel left out.

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My high school banned "honors" labels and just awarded graduation speeches based on a competition. Any student in the class could submit a speech. The faculty picked whichever one they liked the best. The administration didn't want the less accomplished students in the graduating class to feel left out.

 

 

Hey... Just like business and "sports socialism". What's wrong with the salary cap? It's suppose to help the smaller markets compete! :doh::doh:

 

Is there really a "free market"... :lol:

 

Only the suckers gotta compete...

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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