Reply to Why academic awards for elementary aged kids are a bad idea.

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[quote=Anonymous]This is well put. Thank you PP.

[quote=Anonymous]

But school isn't about achievement and when you make it about achievement you inhibit the learning of award winners and looser alike.  The thread was started by a mom whose son asked her if he just wasn't smart.  He is coming to think of himself in a certain way.  School isn't "one particular thing" you can't be best at, it is an endeavor you are engaged in for 6 hours of your day!  If you are not very good at your job, you will not keep it, which is fine, because you can find a job you are good at.  Kids cannot find a better job and there is no reason to rank who is very good and who is not - in fact there is every reason not to rank since ranking in elementary school is harmful to all.  We are a culture OBSESSED with academic achievement, unfortunately, for kids who could learn more but don't because they've labeled themselves a certain way (perhaps because they aren't good at school, perhaps because they aren't precocious and by the time their cognitive abilities caught up, they already labeled themselves) or don't because they won awards and have come to care more about the awards than learning (which often involves messy failures that won't win any awards) [/quote][/quote]

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