<p>No good deed goes unpunished. In an effort to recognize high achieving students, kids at Orange County HS with higher scores on standardized tests were issued black or gold student ID cards. They received a few perks, like a special homework planner and shorter lunch line.</p>
<p>The problem, apparently, is that students who didn’t qualify for the special cards suffered from low self esteem issues, and the California Department of Education found the practice to be illegal.</p>
<p>While I certainly don’t want to see systems that demean low achieving students, I wonder how one DOES recognize achievement in a meaningful way? For years, we’ve complained that the student athletes get all the attention and perks, while academic achievement is poorly recognized and is even a subject of mockery. But, when one school tries to provide a visible incentive to raise scores, it’s termed discrimination against those who don’t qualify.</p>
<p>When I was in high school, I envied the kids who were bigger, stronger, and faster than I was who were allowed to wear letter sweaters to class while most of us had to wear sport coats. Looking back, I can see how this practice made many other students feel bad about their lack of athletic prowess. Those were less enlightened times, though, and nobody corrected this discriminatory practice. ;)</p>
<p>Way back when, my hs was one of the first to experiment with heterogeneous classrooms- the tippy top kids mixed in with the great, good and not so good. Quite damaging to egos, all around.</p>
<p>Fortunately, by the time I hit college, the “freshman beanie” thing was over and done with.</p>
The way lunch lines are in some (many?) schools, the students don’t even have time to eat after standing in a long line. So the high standard test score students deserve a better food experience than the other students? </p>
<p>Should the teachers with higher Praxis test scores get a better teacher lunch experience?</p>
<p>I think awarding any sort of perks based on standardized test scores is awful BUT …</p>
<p>I’ve often wished that a driver’s license was much harder for teens to obtain than it is. So I would love to see it tied to school achievement … not top grades but good effort and conduct. The license should be a privilege, and recommendations from teachers could be part of the process.</p>
<p>This sort of screening system might keep some of the less responsible kids off the road and might also spur others to ratchet up their behavior in school in order to be eligible to drive.</p>
<p>My basic philosophy is that life is competitive and kids have to learn that the right performance (academically and in personal qualities) opens many doors- but, for heaven’s sake, let the top scorers have their own honor group. Then, push that group into vol work, maybe tutoring or mentoring. Lunch line privileges and a special badge are empty.</p>
<p>There are always some kids who are going to feel inferior. It seems disingenuous to ignore differences in skill just to make those who lack skills in that particular area feel better. If that same school decided to do away with athletic awards, the outcry would be deafening. Why not recognize both athletic and academic success whenever possible? My daughter routinely claps for hours as her peers win the athletic awards; on academic awards night, those peers clap for her. My son, who like most kids, doesn’t win awards in either category, does feel bad, but he recognizes that this is how the world works, and we’re helping him to find an area where he does feel successful.</p>
<p>90% of all kids are not in the top 10% but somehow, they manage to find meaningful work and enjoy their lives.</p>
<p>Our school did the color-coded discount card program based on class rank/GPA. The problem was that they gave the members of a school service club the job of handling the program. One of the students involved started blabbing about who had what class rank. Since our school doesn’t rank officially and the students themselves don’t have access to their own class rank data, you’d better believe I called to complain about the release of personal information to another student and that this kid was gossiping about his classmates’ GPA/rank.</p>
<p>I’ve always agreed with this viewpoint and hate the “Everyone gets an MVP trophy” approach that actually did happen on one of my son’s elementary-school sports teams.</p>
<p>But I don’t think that using test scores is a good way to reward students. Grades, behavior, and effort might all be fair yardsticks by which to measure them but not state-mandated standardized tests.</p>
<p>The school is Kennedy High, a school that I am familiar with. It has a high Hispanic population…possibly with a number of undocumented. Perhaps “the powers that be” are concerned that this will become some kind of race issue…where more non-Hispanics have the “better cards”.</p>
<p>“The way lunch lines are in some (many?) schools, the students don’t even have time to eat after standing in a long line. So the high standard test score students deserve a better food experience than the other students?”</p>
<p>Shouldn’t the struggling kids have gotten the shorter lines, so they’d have more time for tutoring?</p>
<p>I’ve always been a ‘survival of the fittest’ type, so I wouldn’t really understand the outrage.</p>
<p>People should be recognized for efforts. How they are recognized is something for the schools to decide, and though this may be “illegal,” I think its the thought that counts. This was the step in the right direction. </p>
<p>Everyone was not born equal, and this needs to be recognized. If jocks are, then why can’t nerds? In this day and age where parents are all about “self-esteem” and “everyone is #1,” it’s disgusting how they pamper and shelter their children. We need more old-school parenting.</p>
<p>I think this decision is less about pampering and sheltering and more focused on the realization that standardized tests are probably not the best (or only) measure of one’s skills or ability while in high school.</p>
<p>Success can be rewarded in a lot of different ways. This particular school system thinks ID cards assigned based on standardized test scores is not the appropriate way to do that.</p>