Massachusetts principal calls off Honors Night

[Doomsday101]

A Massachusetts principal has been criticized for canceling his school's Honors Night, saying it could be 'devastating' to the students who worked hard, but fell short of the grades.

MyFoxBoston.com reports that David Fabrizio, principal of Ipswich Middle School, notified parents last week of his plan to eliminate the event.

"The Honors Night, which can be a great sense of pride for the recipients' families, can also be devastating to a child who has worked extremely hard in a difficult class but who, despite growth, has not been able to maintain a high grade-point average," Fabrizio penned in his first letter to parents, the station reported.

Fabrizio also said he decided to make the change because academic success can be influenced by the amount of support a student receives at home and not all students receive the same level of emotional and academic support at home.

Some parents disagree with his philosophy.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/2...be-devastating/?test=latestnews#ixzz2OCf7R9Z1

 

[Shunpike]

He might be a communist.

If all of you aren't rich, then all of you live like a poor.

 

[Doomsday101]

He might be a communist.

If all of you aren't rich, then all of you live like a poor.

I think kids who have pulled the grades deserve to be recognized for their achievement. I think these over protection views are silly

There just seem to be a mentality today starting with the kids sports where you don't keep score so no one loses.

 

[Tabascocat]

I think kids who have pulled the grades deserve to be recognized for their achievement. I think these over protection views are silly

There just seem to be a mentality today starting with the kids sports where you don't keep score so no one loses.

I don't know about you, but if I finished last in a soap car race...I would want my participation trophy!

 

[Reality]

I think kids who have pulled the grades deserve to be recognized for their achievement. I think these over protection views are silly

There just seem to be a mentality today starting with the kids sports where you don't keep score so no one loses.

While the rest of the world teaches their kids to rise up and do better, our educational system prefers to teach our kids to hold up and do less.

/reality

 

[DFWJC]

Generally I'm all for rewarding success.

But I'm surpised they have such a big to-do like this for Middle School in the first place.
High School, yes. Middle School seems a bit much. Give them awards if you like but a big extravaganza seems a bit much at that level.

Our edcuation system is a model of mediocrity though.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't know about you, but if I finished last in a soap car race...I would want my participation trophy!

and that is alright but to the winner should go the top trophy.

Nothing wrong with handing out the so called participation trophy but special acknowledgement should always go for the winner.

 

[Doomsday101]

While the rest of the world teaches their kids to rise up and do better, our educational system prefers to teach our kids to hold up and do less.

/reality

I agree. I see these events as life lessons knowing to reach the top you have to put in the work and the effort and parents and teacher as well as coaches should always hold the carrot out front and reward the best. Coming up short does not make one a loser never trying does.

 

[Reality]

The problem with the public education system is their desire to present a "everyone's equal" appearance even though the students and teachers do not think that way. A lot of private schools separate students into groups based on their knowledge and intelligence and the children actually learn.

The assumption is that students that fall into the "dumber" groups will be left behind or not worried about and that's not the case at all. You will find that if you get students that are surrounded by people on the same intelligence level as they are will feel more comfortable, be willing to participate more and enjoy the classes.

My experience is that a lot of teachers that teach honors or advanced placement classes tend to despise or dislike students in their non-advanced classes who are slow learners or simply lazy. That will lead to further isolation and lack of caring by those students.

If we want this country's educational system to improve, we need to first accept that everyone is different. There are smart kids, dumb kids and average kids. We need to stop trying to achieve this foolish goal of everyone hitting the same finish line at the same time and instead define different finish lines based on the students.

If you really want to make slower learning kids who work their butts off feel better, separate the kids into 3 or 4 groups based on standardized testing scores. Then have an "honors night" or whatever recognition a school wants to have for each group.

I agree, more should be done for kids that work hard, but simply cannot make A's, but telling the smart kids to be ashamed of their abilities or to not celebrate them does nothing to improve the lesser intelligent students and serves to only teach the smart kids they should work less hard and be like everyone else.

/reality

 

[Doomsday101]

The problem with the public education system is their desire to present a "everyone's equal" appearance even though the students and teachers do not think that way. A lot of private schools separate students into groups based on their knowledge and intelligence and the children actually learn.

The assumption is that students that fall into the "dumber" groups will be left behind or not worried about and that's not the case at all. You will find that if you get students that are surrounded by people on the same intelligence level as they are will feel more comfortable, be willing to participate more and enjoy the classes.

My experience is that a lot of teachers that teach honors or advanced placement classes tend to despise or dislike students in their non-advanced classes who are slow learners or simply lazy. That will lead to further isolation and lack of caring by those students.

If we want this country's educational system to improve, we need to first accept that everyone is different. There are smart kids, dumb kids and average kids. We need to stop trying to achieve this foolish goal of everyone hitting the same finish line at the same time and instead define different finish lines based on the students.

If you really want to make slower learning kids who work their butts off feel better, separate the kids into 3 or 4 groups based on standardized testing scores. Then have an "honors night" or whatever recognition a school wants to have for each group.

I agree, more should be done for kids that work hard, but simply cannot make A's, but telling the smart kids to be ashamed of their abilities or to not celebrate them does nothing to improve the lesser intelligent students and serves to only teach the smart kids they should work less hard and be like everyone else.

/reality

I agree. We spend more money as a nation on education yet do not get the resutls. It is not a lack of money that is for sure it is a mindset of trying to make all equal

 

[Future]

This happened to me with honor scarves or whatever they are at graduation. A bunch of other parents thought we shouldn't be allowed to wear them

Luckily one of our teachers said, more or les, "F that," and let us wear them :laugh2:

 

[MapleLeaf]

I agree, more should be done for kids that work hard, but simply cannot make A's, /reality

We don't need to find rewards for kids who work hard. They will be rewarded in due time.

It's rare in life to find a person who was intelligent in life, lazy and becomes a success.

It's even rarer in life to find a kid who was not smart, but worked his butt off not to become a success.

In the adult world the system is designed to identify the hard workers in the education system. They are the ones who begin to rise to top in universities while the lazy ones spend all of their time drinking or playing video games.

Removing the awards night for achieving students is counter productive to what we should aim for in the education system.

Homo Sapiens got to where we are because our species strives to a higher level of excellence over the preceding generation. Taking the recognition of academic excellence is the spiral downward to the intellectual capacity of our next generation.

 

[CATCH17]

The problem with the public education system is their desire to present a "everyone's equal" appearance even though the students and teachers do not think that way. A lot of private schools separate students into groups based on their knowledge and intelligence and the children actually learn.

The assumption is that students that fall into the "dumber" groups will be left behind or not worried about and that's not the case at all. You will find that if you get students that are surrounded by people on the same intelligence level as they are will feel more comfortable, be willing to participate more and enjoy the classes.

My experience is that a lot of teachers that teach honors or advanced placement classes tend to despise or dislike students in their non-advanced classes who are slow learners or simply lazy. That will lead to further isolation and lack of caring by those students.

If we want this country's educational system to improve, we need to first accept that everyone is different. There are smart kids, dumb kids and average kids. We need to stop trying to achieve this foolish goal of everyone hitting the same finish line at the same time and instead define different finish lines based on the students.

If you really want to make slower learning kids who work their butts off feel better, separate the kids into 3 or 4 groups based on standardized testing scores. Then have an "honors night" or whatever recognition a school wants to have for each group.

I agree, more should be done for kids that work hard, but simply cannot make A's, but telling the smart kids to be ashamed of their abilities or to not celebrate them does nothing to improve the lesser intelligent students and serves to only teach the smart kids they should work less hard and be like everyone else.

/reality

LOL there is noooo way you could seperate them into groups. They would get labeled negatively so quick.


Education just needs to be more competitive. Thats all that needs to happen. Kids need to compete against each other to see who does the best. If they are competing with one another than everybody wins.

A lot of whats wrong with schooling is that it's not natural to go sit and be lectured 5 days a week so kids get bored and they just don't give any effort.

I think more competition and shorter school days is what the younger generation needs. I think School should start at 9 AM so kids can be well rested and have the energy to actually take in what is being taught.

 

[burmafrd]

No country on earth spends more on education with less results.

Yet you keep hearing whining about not spending enough.

The system is broken. Time to tear it down and start over.

 

[CowboyWay]

There just seem to be a mentality today starting with the kids sports where you don't keep score so no one loses.

Bingo. These kids today are taught that no matter what, they are always winners. Everyone gets a trophy mentality.

I will let you in on a little secret that almost everyone knows. There are winners in life, and losers. Deal with it. Its a good lesson to learn young too.

 

[Doomsday101]

No country on earth spends more on education with less results.

Yet you keep hearing whining about not spending enough.

The system is broken. Time to tear it down and start over.

I think just going back to the basics and get out of the social engineering would be a good place to start.

 

[Reality]

LOL there is noooo way you could seperate them into groups. They would get labeled negatively so quick.

LOL that already happens in every single school. Kids are labeled dumb because they are in a class full of students who are smarter than they are. Kids are labeled nerds because they are smarter than everyone else. By putting people with groups of people on the same level they are, it would create a more equal and comfortable environment for kids. As I said, the local private schools have been doing that for years and it has proven to work.

A few years ago, a couple of local public schools performed an experiment. They put females in all female classes and males in all male classes and found that both groups performed well above what they did mixed together. The private schools that don't have to worry about being politically correct, learned long ago that separating students into groups based on academic intelligence and performance yielded greater improvements in all groups.

The problem is that everyone thinks that kids just need to compete with each other or kids just need to hear the same thing repeated over and over again to "get it" and that is flawed logic. Kids will not compete with each other unless they are already smart. No D-average kid is going to worry about beating a C-average or even A-average student.

As I said, kids are already labeled based on intelligence and popularity in schools. Every school has cliques (groups) on a social level and intelligence level while in class. When the class has group projects, no one wants to be in the dumb kids groups. That leads to the lower intelligent kids being isolated and withdrawn. If you put those kids in groups other other kids on their level, they will feel less intimidated and as a result, more likely to interact and learn.

/reality

 

[Doomsday101]

Bingo. These kids today are taught that no matter what, they are always winners. Everyone gets a trophy mentality.

I will let you in on a little secret that almost everyone knows. There are winners in life, and losers. Deal with it. Its a good lesson to learn young too.

I agree and better to find out and learn to deal with it early in life than later on. There are no freebies in life, to achive your goals you have to be willing to put in the time and effort and you can expect set backs. How a person contends with it and learns to overcome sets backs is just part of life.

 

[Jammer]

A few years ago, a couple of local public schools performed an experiment. They put females in all female classes and males in all male classes and found that both groups performed well above what they did mixed together. /reality

When I was in the 8th grade the school I went to separated the boys and girls. It was great. The boys had (mostly) men teachers, and the girls had women teachers. It was so cool to just be guys in class and the male teachers could let us be boys. The boys didn't have to show off to the girls and I'm sure the girls enjoyed not being intimidated by the boys.