Elitism Starts in Childhood

I am curious as to when it is okay to spend money on the select few.

I noticed a story about a middle school in Rhode Island that is going to stop having an Honors Night. 

According to the article, the students will still be receiving their awards in excellence. They are just not throwing a separate "party" for them any longer.

The school claims that members of the community have expressed the exclusive nature and I get the feeling “elitism” is another issue for the other students that a “party night” was set aside for a few kids who did what they are supposed to do in school, get good grades.

I do understand that these children have worked hard for their grades and do deserve the recognition. However, this story does not go into enough details to make accurate judgments towards the school or the students.

Is this school a private school? If so, yes these students do deserve the night that they have all worked very hard for; their parents have paid enough in tuition for this benefit, but…

By the sounds of it this a public school, so...

Are the students fundraising for the honors night?

Why would the students, who are getting these awards, not want to share their success with their classmates? Would their classmates not want to share the success with them, maybe give them the pat on the back they deserve?

The issues I see happening are twofold.

One being, when these kids get into the real world, there are no “honor nights” to award them every year for doing their best work. Even if there is, not all of them will be recognized. So how exactly is it preparing them for their future giving them a party for doing the work they should be doing in the first place every year?

The second being, we already have an elitism society, how is this helping?

What are we teaching our children when we are willing to throw a party on the dime of all taxpayers for the few students who are doing what they are supposed to be doing?

Yes, they are working hard at school, isn't that what students are supposed to do? Maybe they should be taking their awards in front of other students to set the example. Show the other students that this is what you can accomplish when you apply yourself.

Sharing your achievements with your fellow classmates is not “lording” your grades over them. It does the opposite, as the girl in the article stated; it made her work harder to accomplish what she needed to do to become an honor student. 

A party for the elite few who do what they were supposed to do in the first place is not teaching them humility. It teaches them that they are worth more than those who cannot accomplish as much as they can. There are those who work just as hard as they do, but cannot achieve the same goal. 

What is wrong with the awards being given to them at graduation? That is how they have done it for years where I grew up. You work hard through High School years and are given your dues when you graduate. Not every year.

Whatever happened to teaching our children values? 

Let’s teach our children that elitism does not belong in our public schools. Accept your award in excellence with dignity and humbleness.

A Mac Davis song comes to mind, Its Hard to be Humble…We are so focused on our children learning to be smarter than the next student; we forget to teach them values like Modesty.