The Barnyard

A few years back...my son was in grammar school...and won many awards for his grade(3rd, 4th, 5th they give awards for the entire grade) each year. Typically, it was 3-4 kids who were the top performers in almost every subject...which I'm sure is the norm for almost any school, anywhere.

A few years later, my daughter goes to the same school...so I was expecting the same results as I know she is amongst the top 1-3 students in her grade. However, after sitting through the entire award ceremony( my daughter got one award...which she shared with 4 other students), I noticed that no student received more than one award and no individual student was recognized as being the best(only the best of 5 for each subject) In other words, the administration has decided to spread around the accolades instead of actually giving them to the top students.

I wanted to have a meeting with the principal but my wife, who is a teacher, told me that the school would just blackball my daughter if I said anything. Bottom line, my opinion, this kind of political correctness...spread around the awards policies in our schools is part of the reason why our schools are failing. Giving every 7 year old on a soccer team a trophy is ok but when we start doing this in education it's a bad idea.
And by the way...my daughter knew she got screwed without me telling her a thing.
Any opinions?

I believe there is a way to reward the best of the best and also try to encourage and reward the better performers as well. These things don't have to be mutually exclusive. I'm gearing up for the same nonsense next week...last year my head almost exploded.

True but as I explained to my wife, if we don't say anything about it...then who will. But yeah, I know what to expect this year so I will cope better. Thanks for your input.

Since TBS banned political and religious discussion, would it be possible to ban discussion of the importance of recruiting stars and discussion of the relevance of Steven Garcia?

Nah.. I'll be around but not quite as much. There's no internet avaliable where I live, so I'll only be able to stop in once a day or so. Come August, I'll be back full time.

Man...I don't know how you guys do it. (work all year round) I'm really really ready for a break. I put a ton of emotional and physical investment into this year. These 6th graders were a doozy.

At the risk of sounding all Abbott and Costello and not trying to cast aspersions (an homage to ABC) - I'm going to go out on a limb here...

I would venture a guess and say progressives may be the source ... they're forever espousing fairness at the expense of competition; constantly advocating to provide "just a little more" to the have nots (which can have some redeeming value for those who truly are in need); frequently minimizing the importance of religious morality; often eschewing criticism of failure and shortfalls ...

Since religion and politics are now banned subjects, just pretend we’re discussing sociology.

But ain't it nice in them thar hills.

I would put the blame on parents who can't stand to see their children fail at anything but rather than explain to the child that failure is a motivator, they don't feel the need to teach their children a lesson but rather try to alter the system. They don't understand failure is not always a bad thing.

And those types of parents are not part of one politically similar. It's just as possible and probably likely to have over-bearing cant-handle-failure parents who are dems and repubs.

I don't think this has anything at all to do with political inclination; it's not understanding as a parent that a child's failure is sometimes a good thing if the parent can use it appropriately as a teaching moment.

at the risk of being like me, abc, being aspersionated you go out & aspersion progressives for yet another malady this time the wussification of people in general.

lots of finger pointing, scapegoat seeking. but, it must be said, alas, for ye these many last couple of generations, being associated with progressivism, among the vast unwashed majority, that has been akin to being called a child molestor

no, sorry, middle america, the silent majority, your folks, they bred these little punks. dont try to dump them on me

i grew up on a dirt farm. kicked in the face as a young boy. had nothing and no prospects of anything, but i managed & with no government help

i am a progressive & i will kya if you insist. i like breaking stereotypes as well as bones

Mahatma, as a man of the people, a defender of the down trodden - one who laughs at the ogre (no offense joe) as he kicks sand in your face - as one who has looked danger in the face and sold them insurance - as one who relishes in the robin hood mentality of the progressive mindset,

In light of your need to break bones and stereotypes ... I feel it is only fitting you should have a theme song…

This song’s for you.