03-21-2013, 08:27 PM
vision63 wrote:
[quote=Lemon Drop]
It's fine, worthy and important to honor middle school academic achievement. Many kids are already studying high school level stuff by then anyway, they should be acknowledged when they do unusually well. I'd bet this principal mentioned in swampy's link will realize the error of his ways and bring back the honors night thing. If he's concerned that kids in the more advanced classes are unfairly penalized, then he could institute weighted GPA for honors classes. (sort of like the state of California does for college admissions)
I do not however think that failing to issue such awards somehow damages kids or leads to mediocrity. It's just a nice public acknowledgement for people who already know they are doing very well.
It's also okay to acknowledge other areas of achievement such as volunteerism and other character based accomplishments which really should be sprinkled in.
I agree completely. My kids' middle school has awards that focus on character traits: integrity, kindness, generosity, etc, in addition to the usual academic, artistic, and athletic stuff.