Reply to How many here had students that missed being NMSF and were Commended instead

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm a Democrat, and I am completely baffled by the political posts. I'm in FCPS but don't have a kid at TJ, Langley, or Westfield. In fairness to the students at those schools, this matter absolutely MUST be examined. It is NOT much ado about nothing. As a previous poster said, 3%&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;100%. Students earn this award and it's far from a participation trophy. The top high school athletes/artists/musicians/etc often receive recognitions if they are a top 3%er. My kids were varsity athletes, and often the top 10% were recognized with all-conference honors. Why can't students be recognized for their success on their junior year PSAT?

The deferred withholding of these awards until AFTER many college applications were already submitted is unfair to the hard working students of FCPS. At TJ, the Commended kids may feel a little embarrassed in front of their peers, but it is their right to include the award on their college applications if desired.

I disagree that all kids know about Commended. At private schools, the Commended list is shared with the entire school community. This does not happen at the public schools, so I'm sure there are kids and parents who have no idea.

Based on a previous post, it looks like more than 25% of the TJ seniors were NMSF. I'm guessing that more than 50% of the seniors were Commended (no data behind this--as I stated, it's just a guess, and we will likely hear the number in the coming days). I think the withholding was possibly done so that the remaining 25% with no National Merit recognition weren't made to feel badly. [b]If you try out for a varsity sport and only 25% of the kids make it, you're not as crushed if you don't make the team. But if 75% of the kids make the team, you walk away feeling not too great. Perhaps this is why the Commended letters were intentionally never released--to protect the bottom 25%?[/b]

For all of you that are dismissing Commended, please know that you come off sounding bitter that your child wasn't Commended and that the Commended kids now have something to add to their app that yours does not. This may not be your intent, but it certainly comes off that way.[/quote]

I completely agree with your post.  To go a little further with your point that I bolded, if only 25% of the athletes won't make the team, do they just decide to not have a team at all, so feelings won't be hurt?  Of course not![/quote]

+1[/quote]

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