Guest AuthorAt first, I thought it was a joke — political satire. But no, it was for real. Some people actually think that way.
It seems that a Maryland middle school was holding a dance and pizza party complete with a DJ for students who earned straight A’s.
Students who got B’s and C’s were invited to attend the party once classes were over and pizza was no longer being served. Students with lower grades were not invited at all.
That meant that 306 students of the school’s 865 students were left out of the party, which was called the “Academic Achievement Celebration” at Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring.
Now students and some parents are calling it an exclusive party and the wrong way to reward achieving students because it makes students who didn’t make the grade feel inferior.
But, what is wrong with an event that encourages excellence? When students excel, it is important to recognize and honor them. The intention of such an event is not to make those who didn’t achieve feel badly, but perhaps it will give them a target to shoot for so they can be at the next honors party.
One teacher said it “creates a caste system that could easily result in bullying and victimization.” I say it sets goals for all students to shoot for.
Would that teacher suggest that every student who wants to play on an athletic team be on the varsity, lest those otherwise left our might feel inferior?
Isn’t the opportunity for all to excel what made America great? Not all cultures enjoy that freedom.
Our country stands for an equal opportunity for all to achieve spectacularly or modestly – or not at all.
Shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you will be with the stars. That’s what America is all about.
I was one who was in that half of the class that made the upper half possible. I flunked chemistry. I had to repeat it. A friend, who made an “A” offered to tutor me.
He didn’t offer to average his grade with mine so that we both got a “C.” He offered to help me excel.
I will always remember Mark for his generosity.
I got my “A,” learned what studying was all about and went on to be an honor student and get a full scholarship to law school. That’s what achievement and inspiration are all about. It’s the American way.
So, no wonder it grinds my cookies when I hear our President call for income equality and equal compensation. What happened to excellence?
What happened to personal success, financial and otherwise? Programs that encourage people to wait for a handout is not what built this country.
I believe in equality of opportunity. Every American child should be entitled to a seat in a classroom and the opportunity to learn and excel.
I also believe in a free-enterprise system that says that the more you study, the better you apply yourself and the harder you work, then the result will be a larger house, nicer car and bigger bank account.
Is there now something wrong with children striving to distance themselves with achievement from those satisfied with mediocrity?
Yet, our President recently said, “focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition.” Excuse me Mr. President, but how is setting a course to be the best of the best a “poverty of ambition?”
The free-market economy works by rewarding those who do for themselves. Capitalism is about seizing opportunity, both in school and at work. Perhaps that is a lesson not so well taught in today’s education system.
Teach love, generosity, manners and the value of hard study. Then some of those values may drift from the classroom to the home and who knows, the children will be educating the parents, many of whom apparently need it.
The classroom should be an entrance into the world, not an escape from it.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “There is nothing more unequal, than the equal treatment of unequal people.” Well said, Mr. President.
That’s My Opinion and I am sticking to it.
John Grant is a political columnist who served 21 years in the Florida Legislature and now practices estate-planning law in Tampa. He can be reached at [email protected]
