by B.J. on 1/30/2004 04:55:00 AM 0 comments Print this post

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Honorably Rolling Asses

So in Nashville Tennessee, there's this initiative or whatever that is going to outlaw the Honor Roll according to this CNN show called American Morning with Sole Soledad O'Brien, the former hottest (dignified) thing in news.

Anyway, an amazing amount of the viewer mail they got (or at least what they showed) was overwhelmingly not in favor of this dissolvement of the honor roll. Nearly all of them cited that this was incentive for children to reach and achieve.

Hold the record.

Let me say: You probably deserve to fail if you just do academics for attention. . .at least in college.

But removing the honor roll is in this grade school situation. Kids live off attention especially in such a big flippin' society, nation, country this is. The honor roll is a way of giving attention.

But it probably causes too much division for my liking anyway. It's not such a good thing that its gone there, but that doesn't mean it's really a bad thing. Keep it out, keep it in, this honor roll thing doesn't matter. But since people are hellbent on making Tennessee put it back, let me say why lacking an honor roll is not such a bad thing.

In my very own grade school experience, I felt that if I didn't get one of those white calligraphied awards signifying my Honor Rollhood and thus inteligence during public assembly for everyone to see, everyone would surely know I was dumb. And when I did get it, I only got the second level of intelligence instead of the holy 1st level. I got locked into thinking very early on that I was never going to be first-level intelligence which was somewhat deflating. In those days I wouldn't come near Gladys with a 10-foot pole because she was the most intimidating smart person I had ever known.

Only now am I starting to figure out that these divisions of intelligence called grades aren't as big as it is made to be. These divisions are myth, but the very definition of myth is that a problem is exaggerated, helping to lock kids' fragile perceptions into thinking that they desperately need to find one thing they're good at and keep doing it. Little things to us big people might not be so little to little people. The honor roll thing on its own is a stupid thing.

But taken into context of the whole school with sports and everything, the honor roll is just something to buffer those that have the tools suited for academics.

OK now to focus on what other people have said against this dissolvement of the honor roll.

Other people say that this dissolving of the honor roll is crap because it gives children less incentive to succeed. I wonder what group of people says this and what they have in mind. . .ah. . .yes. . .maybe the ones who see children as inherently lazy and sure to break down without rules and/or recognition.

Then another group always mentions how sports should be dissolved as well if academics are not getting the attention. I wonder what group of people says this and what they have in mind. . .ah. . .yes. . .maybe the ones who are just status-seeking elitist assholes.

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