Westview High School in Beaverton, Oregon has 75 valedictorians. Many students and educators there are in favor of scrapping the idea of valedictorian entirely, deeming it "antiquated," an idea that has caught favor elsewhere.
Pity poor Irene Libov, a valedictorian whose internalization of the Special Olympics credo makes her achievement taste like dust:
Irene Libov, 18, will be named valedictorian of Southridge this year. She's on the waiting list at Harvard. She said she worked hard throughout high school to go to college, not to become valedictorian.
Now, as valedictorian, Libov has mixed feelings about the recognition.
"I think recognition is important, but it makes other students feel inferior," Libov said. "I don't think graduation should be a time when students get recognition over someone else."
"In a perfect world, we would have all students achieving at that level," said Mike Osborne, Beaverton School Board chairman. "They would all be valedictorians."
My thanks to the public school system for turning out yet another generation of winners. May life reward them though they shrink from competiton and may they spend all the days of their lives comfortably wrapped in the soft cotton of their empty self-esteem.
(Via Fark.)
Posted by floridacracker at April 29, 2006 06:39 AMI guess they won't be having anymore spelling bees either. "Spell 'pathetic'". "'Pathetic'...'pathetic'...P.C...."
Posted by: tfhr at April 29, 2006 08:05 AM"A few state organizations, including the Florida Council of Language Arts Supervisors, has taken a stance against spelling bees.
Gayle Cowley, president of the Florida council, said a better way to teach spelling is by writing words, dissecting words, learning their meanings and studying word patterns.
"Spelling is one of those skills that is not as critical as it used to be because of all the aids we have for spelling," Cowley said. "But even more than that, the focus has moved from those kind of automatic memorization skills to critical thinking and analysis skills, which I think most of us believe should be the focus of our instruction."
The group's unofficial survey of school districts shows declining interest in bees from giant Broward County in South Florida to Santa Rosa County in the Panhandle, she said."
http://www.susanohanian.org/atrocity_fetch.php?id=1937
"Spelling is one of those skills that is not as critical as it used to be..."
P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.
Posted by: Donnah at April 29, 2006 08:23 AM"Spelling...not critical...."
Yeah, right. The people that spout that crap ought to read the garbage that comes across my desk. Between the sorry state of school curricula and the shorthand that passes for text message writing, most young American adults cannot communicate in the written word.
The other sad result of the philosophy behind eliminating competition in schools is that it makes underacheivement acceptable.
Thank God they teach English in India!
Posted by: tfhr at April 29, 2006 09:49 AM