^^^EDIT,<removed 500="" word="" essay="" on="" the="" end="" of="" western="" culture,="" based="" my="" ds="" not="" being="" awarded="" his="" high="" school="" physics="" award="" in="" 10th="" grade…i="" couldn’t="" really="" do="" subject="" justice="" without="" another="" 1,000="" words…="">
I bet that the most whose pics were displayed do not care about this type of “recognition”. This is so irrelevant to anything. The only relevance to getting this status is obtaining the Merit scholarships, which could be easily obtained without being NMF. Actually, there are many more Merit awards for people with high GPA / Scores than for NMFs. On the other note, if others are so upset about this “recognition” of somebody else’s achievements, why not draw a positive energy from it, instead of letting yourself down? Isn’t the whole idea of grading and awarding and medals (in sport) and any other recognition of the best of the best designed to pull everybody else up, to create additional motivation for those who value this type of recognition. Again, in my opinion, those who actually won, most likely than not tried very hard with the goal of some award that actually makes a difference and picture on the wall was not part of it. So, if you want to be recognized in your next whatever, remember that you really wanted your pic. on the wall, turn it into motivation. Being positive gives you ton of energy, negativity only drains you without any kind of benefit to you personally. Focus on yourself, draw a positive energy from everything, it pays off
@dfbdfb “An overgeneralization of the boneheadedness of a single school or principal or whatever into a claim about the unfairness of everything done by high schools, everywhere.”
It certainly isn’t happening at all schools. However, it isn’t only this school either. There is this anti-education, pro sports cultural issue that is at work in the US and does impact these situations. They would never remove the sports awards and pictures because a kid felt bad. They would say the kid needs to grow up. However, when it is about academics, they scurry to take down the pics.
Again, my kid wasn’t up there on the wall. I just thought the kids deserved to be recognized like the athletes and the artists, and I think it also says something about the cultural zeitgeist.
"Again, my kid wasn’t up there on the wall. " - Mine neither that is if her HS had such a wall, which I do not know as D. did not mention or I forgot. She was not NMF and she did not care about it at all. She went on attending her college on full tuition Merit scholarship and that was remembered very well, more so our wallet remembered it the best, as our wallet had a goal of staying fat thru her college.
Right, and that is my point. The school drew the line at an ‘athletic’ wall, which (you?) and other parents feel is “unfair” to the non-athletes.
Not saying that I agree with that “line” but that’s what it is…
Public schools were invented to support NFL, education is just a deceptive forefront.
“I bet that the most whose pics were displayed do not care about this type of “recognition””
As I said upthread, they’re not the ones I’m concerned about. I’m concerned about the younger kids in the HS and the message they’re getting from the adults about what matters at that institution.
"and the message they’re getting from the adults about what matters at that institution. "- The message is “institution” like HS in this case, cares a lot about the number of NMFs they produced, it is one of their huge marketing point. The point also is that students supposed to get more motivation out of it instead of whine about something that is achieved by very hard working students at their school. Again, negativity will not benefit you. Why not approach them, congratulate them with this achievement and try to extract from them how they did it, that is if this is the goal? For my kid, it never was, she did not care what is done by whom and who got recognized for what as she had enough of the eggs in her basket, why count others’ and be sad that somebody else may have gotten more? Be happy with what you got! The only way one can benefit from the achievements of others is to be motivated by them. If you really truly love yourself, you want to benefit from everything around you, not to be put down, correct?
At a local high school there is a big assembly of all students on signing day, the day recruited athletes commit to a college. Sometimes a local TV station sends a crew. There is no recognition of students who got into college without that hook.
Our local HSs have started a commitment day for students and their future careers. Some students wear college Ts, others their Go Army shirts if they are enlisting. Totally irrespective of athletics.
As everyone knows, the nerds will inherit the earth.
All that matters in 99.9% of schools is athletic prowess. I went to school in three different countries and it was always the same (the only difference is in the US some athletes can get college scholarships, so maybe their worship is actually more justifiable).
I am the least athletic person in the world and was bullied for 13 years for this. Despite the fact I did everything asked of me academically and more, I was considered completely and utterly worthless in every way. If I had know how bad it would get I would probably have killed myself age 12. Adults would go to jail for this kind of mental and physical abuse, but for kids it’s the victim’s fault.
But now I have the power. Any hint of athletic awards and your resume is going in the trash. I ask interviewees if they were popular in high school. If the answer if yes, bye bye bully. Enjoy reaping what you sow. Enjoy the best years of your life popular high school athletes. You’ve got over 60 years of everything going down hill after that.
As another “least athletic persons in the world,” I think the above is pretty despicable. Wow.
-Mark Twain
But I don’t beat them up or verbally abuse them Things they (the high school popular crowd) would joyfully subject me to in an instant if given the chance. I am incredibly kind to them.
Wow cupcake, that is so fundamentally unfair. I know lots of kids who are athletes who are not bullies and some who are not at all popular. Just because a kid plays on a team, doesn’t make him or her an athletic star, a bully, a brat or popular. Some kids do not even hang out with the other athletes beyond team time. Kids may also answer they were popular, even if they weren’t really. Some of the most arrogant kids at our HS were the top students. Others were the top athletes. And even the top drama kids were a bit full of themselves.
Are any of your kids athletic? I am guessing you wouldn’t let them play even if they wanted to.
So you think me getting beaten every day was fair? Ha ha ha! It’s about time the popular kids learnt about being fair. Or even just being civil to others. Like I said, I am a million times nicer than any of them would ever be to me.
I’m sorry for what happened to you cupcake 
Bad things happened to you, so now you get to do bad things to others?
I think we’ve got a decent definition of hazing going on here, I do.
See what I mean! I am evil for putting a piece of paper in the trash. Hurting the self-esteem of your precious snowflake. But if for example your precious snowflake breaks the arm of a shy 12 year old girl because she walked past them once, it’s totally okay (it’s the same situation with rape victims. The victim is blamed because of what they were wearing. See other threads on this board). That’s what high school is like folks. A dog-eat-dog world. You’re deluding yourself if you think different. This is not at all a phenomena limited to the US either.
@cupcake Sorry you were bullied. There are certainly many employers who love athletes, so it is interesting to hear from a different perspective.
I think the reaction is because @cupcake didn’t use the proper code. If she said she has a strong hiring preference for non-athletes, I think no one would notice. I have seen many people who “strongly prefer” athletes, or frat brothers or other “unfair” biases, and I never hear complaints about that unfairness from anyone. It is just culturally accepted and everyone say “Life isn’t fair.” It looks very different to many when they aren’t part of the “in group.”
As a good friend always says, “Him’s got issues!”
No, @Much2learn, cupcake is punishing total strangers for the sins of people in her past. She’s projecting behaviors of past abusers on others who probably bear no resemblance whatsoever to her former classmates. She’s doing the same thing abused boys do when they grow up and abuse their wives. She’s paying it forward in a big way. That’s way beyond having hiring “preferences.”