Reply to Silver Spring's Eastern Middle School gets slammed for rewarding good students

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think it's school administrators who need a social skills lesson to not lavish excess and privilege on kids who are already privileged and exclude kids who most likely aren't, with a sprinkling of exceptions perhaps.    [/quote]

OK, I think I must have misunderstood what you are saying here, or I'm not understanding how you arrived at your conclusion. It seems to me that the following three statements are true:
1. Grades are not “given” or “assigned” by the teacher  but rather are earned as a result of effort (studying, homework, organization and participation grades) and subsequent performance (tests, projects, other assessments) on the part of each student.
2. This party rewards students who have earned high enough grades.
3. Earlier in the thread previous posters have mentioned other rewards and incentives for those whose grades are below the level specified in premise two but whose grades are improving.

If we accept the above premises, we agree that: receiving an invitation to the party is contingent upon meeting or exceeding a specific level of achievement based on benchmarks (grades) which are under the control of the student.

This is the source of my puzzlement with your statement. I believe that each student earns their grades and that each student has a chance to succeed. Unless you are arguing that grades at Eastern are awarded unfairly on the basis of something other than student performance, in which case I think we have a far bigger problem than a single party, I don’t see how you can argue that the population of kids who will achieve this reward is “privileged”. 
-	they have received no special “privileges” in order to allow them to be eligible for an invitation, the grading scale is applied the same way for all students in the school population, any of whom would be permitted to receive a grade high enough to attend the party, if their effort and performance enabled them to earn it.
-	If you are referring to their socioeconomic background, you are effectively alleging that only high SES students are capable of success. I do not believe this; I think such an attitude is elitist and wrong. History shows examples of kids from all backgrounds who have achieved success, both in school and in life, and kids from all backgrounds who have not. With the possible exception of students severely affected by a learning disability, which would be accommodated so as to best support the student’s learning goals, I believe that ALL students – rich, poor, tall, short, of whatever skin color or ethnic background – are individuals capable of making choices to study, to try hard in school, and to achieve their goals.

I get the sense that many posters are uncomfortable because access to this opportunity (the party) is based on demonstrated achievement rather than effort expended. But, frankly, so is life. The real world doesn’t give effort grades, individuals enjoy the “fruits” (results) of their labor. You gain opportunities (participation in high school sports/plays/extra curriculars, jobs, college admissions, jobs, promotions, etc) on the basis of the results of your effort towards your goals. Effort is a great thing which should be encouraged, and Eastern appears to be doing that in other ways. But I see nothing wrong with students learning that results matter too, in a low risk environment at a time in life when students are still forming their characters and choosing their paths. In life, ethically you cannot receive something for which you do not meet the eligibility requirements, and I think schools or parents that lead students to believe otherwise are doing the children a major disservice.

It is up to each individual to set his or her goals and determine how much and what sort of effort is needed to reach said goal. There will always be people for whom reaching the same goal requires more effort than the person next to them, but I don’t think that devalues the second person’s achievement or makes the achievement itself unworthy of recognition.
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