<p>Our high school administers the PSAT to all freshman,sophomores and juniors , so you would think that people would know that the junior year PSAT is the qualifier for NMS. Most people have no idea, including a lot of parents of top students. I think the only reason I was aware of this was because of my own HS days.</p>
<p>I think the NHS Corporation just needs to update and revamp their program. They need to build their endowment and make awards that are transportable - can be used at whatever school the student chooses. SAT growth is stagnant relatively and if NHS Corp. doesn’t have a short term and long term strategoc planning for staying current they will continue to loose panache. It’s an old program starting I think in the 1950s and you have to “burnish” brands as time goes on. There’s a “pay for play” aspect, too, in that students have to pay for the SAT to continue on and some students in some schools pay for the PSAT. I do think it’s a reputable and viable path to a scholarship. I do think that it has a regional bias aligned with SAT which they have tried to adjust through the ranging of qualification scores but I don’t believe that bias is totally overcome. I do not believe it deserves “more” reverence than other scholarship programs. I do think all students should be acknowledged for their achievements.</p>
<p>CaliforniaDancer, you might want to bring Keilexandra’s list of NM scholarships in to your GC’s office. I know that people at your school aren’t going to be interested in the vast majority of schools listed, but it still might save someone who is planning on going to one of those academic gems on the list a few tens of thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>WildwoodII, post 118
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<p>Wildwood – super post. I agree!!!. My children attended awards ceremonies only if it would be rude not to do so, and my husband and I never allowed them to be mentioned in the media when it required our permission. It worked for us.</p>
<p>^^Not everyone has wonderful parents, and some times a school assembly or recognition is the only recognition a student gets.</p>
<p>^^imho children from disadvantaged backgrounds, of all sorts, absolutely need positive role models and to be made aware of what opportunities are available to them. But I would argue those children may need to acquire the habit of achieving without outside validation even more than those with “wonderful parents.” In the case of disadvantaged students, it may be even worse for some to be publicly validated and some not than for those with wonderful parents?. jmmv</p>
<p>^^True, however, no matter how good you feel about yourself, it is nice to get an unexpected pat once in a while. My daughter loved it that people were surprised that she was a smart one. She was quiet and never shared scores or grades with classmates.</p>
<p>Re post 186:</p>
<p>In my experience, middle-class children constantly get “external validation” as well as subtle pushing from their parents from the time they begin eating by themselves, putting on their own clothes, having their artwork displayed on the family fridge, their parents exclaiming over their grade reports, and so on and so forth.
Let’s not kid ourselves that high achievers acquire the internal motivation to do well all on their own. If low achievers need that internal motivation, often it’s because they don’t get it at home or in school.</p>
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<p>My experience is that the public school system tries to drag down academic achievers and hold them back. There is some palpable resentment of the top achievers from the public school system. </p>
<p>The fact they cannot even announce who did well on this is just another indication of this attitude. In fact, this college counselor has to hold a national press conference to announce that these NMF’s didn’t actually achieve anything since it was all due to family income. </p>
<p>And that bothers me more than the issue of school recognition itself.</p>
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<p>I completely agree. Most of the goodies in schools go to the favorites of the administration and political teachers: most awards, nominations to Girls/Boys state to punch that leadership ticket, and so forth. Not to mention better grades: the pleaser usually gets the benefit of the doubt, the rebel gets the shaft.</p>
<p>One of the major virtues of standardized tests–and other national tests in subject areas such as math and language–is that it is the one opportunity that the kid who is a rebel or a loner or very introverted or just not on the radar has to go out and earn an anonymous award or credential based solely on their own abilities and knowledge, not on having the favor of the powers that be.</p>
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<p>Her score probably has little to do with it. In my experience, kids who actually get money from the NM organization are very likely to be vals and sals. In fact, those are the ONLY kids I know who have gotten money from that source. As a homeschooled kid, yours didn’t have that kind of credential. Kids with higher scores–like yours and mine–are passed over for $$ all the time.</p>
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<p>Well, the system is no more opaque than Princeton admission, to use your example. Why do you think Princeton’s system has more validity than National Merit’s?</p>
<p>Son received an invitation from the School Superintendent to come to a School Board meeting and be recognized/honored for his US Presidential Scholar candidacy (based strictly on his SAT scores for those not familiar with the program). He said he would not go as he does not plan to put in an app to continue on (obviously does not put much stock in external recognition).</p>
<p>I asked him to go for 2 reasons:</p>
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<li><p>Anytime our School Board members (small town in flyover state) get more exposure/familiarity with academic achievement is a good thing.</p></li>
<li><p>If he gets a chance to speak, I asked him to thank them and encourage ongoing funding for our meager Gifted and Talented program which he enjoyed immensely in elem school and whose funding is always at risk.</p></li>
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<p>I agree with consolation that not having competition with other students in class is a disadvantage. And especially for the math section, there are much more impressive tests out there which are considered (like the AMC and other math olympics tests.) My magnet school had 11 people get money from the national merit foundation out of 72 finalists my year. It wasn’t necessarily the highest scorers on the PSAT; it seemed to be the best students (and here, getting a high “A” would help more than just getting the “A”) and the people with the most academic accomplishments. In general, it wasn’t a surprise who was chosen. For example, 5 of our USAMO qualifiers were selected. I knew a girl who got 240 on the PSAT and didn’t get it, although she got a “B” in our multi-variable calculus class. Even though the class was notoriously hard, tougher than the one most MIT students take, I suspect that that may have been the reason. I should admit that I have bias inasmuch as I did win the award.</p>
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<p>Actually, the college counselor quoted in the original article wrote his opinion in response to a question on an education forum or blog about how to honor a school’s NM(S)Fs. He did not hold a national press conference.</p>
<p>Mr. Reider is wrong: “Not that these are irrelevant, but family income is the single best measure…”</p>
<p>I think that Mr. Reider is wrong or is “Super” lazy (read his statement-I saw the form and it is a simple task): " Let me leave aside the ridiculous forms the National Merit Scholarship Corporation uses, the refusal to allow us to just send a transcript instead of filling in the silly grading grid, and the absurd box that both the student’s essay and our letter of recommendation must fit in."</p>
<p>I also think he is pedant person and want to be contrarian and his also wants to call attention for his ridiculous ideas.</p>
<p>I also think he should never accept a raise in his salary: That is also recognition!</p>
<p>I will fire any counselor immediately for so strange comments and behavior!</p>
<p>I was being partly facetious. The counselor undoubtedly gave his permission to use his answer in the Washington Post, which is a national forum.</p>
<p>In the article, the counselor uses the word “Platonic” in a way I have never seen before. (Have only ever seen the ubiquitous use in reference to romance-less relationships.) Obviously it refers to the philosophy of Plato. He describes the NMF program as a “Platonic illusion.” Any idea what exactly he is trying to say?</p>
<p>I’m not sure he is using the term correctly.
“platonic” usually means totally abstract, not in real life. Your kitchen table, for instance is not longer a table in the platonic sense because it is too specific in terms of size, shape, color, etc… and thus is different from the generalizable “table” that is the platonic concept.
He is perhaps thinking of “platonic” as “ideal” or “pure” or perhaps trying to convey the idea that PSAT scores are not stand-alone gauges, but carry all sorts of connotations (wealth, in particular, according to him).</p>
<p>“platonic illusion, a baleful superstition nourished on the straw of logical notation”</p>
<p>Found this on a link from Penn’s website which referred to what looked like a thesis…a philosophy paper. </p>
<p>And this:</p>
<p>“The Platonic illusion consists in making what is illusory, the idea, into the highest reality, and in discrediting the real as bare illusion, as mere phantasma.” – another bad paper from another academic website.</p>
<p>Just his way of dissing the program.</p>
<p>Back to the first post, that’s ridiculous. The class at my old school (a class of 10) had two - one the wealthiest student in the grade, the other the poorest. People just need to quit complaining. Both took the test blind - it’s a matter of intelligence, not income.</p>