Anonymous
Post 04/29/2026 08:06     Subject: Re:School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Wow. So just knowing your child is successful isn’t enough for you? You need the bragging rights and for everyone else to know just how great your kid is?

Maybe the school is highlighting things that help the community or highlighting students who may not otherwise receive any recognition. Maybe they’re hoping that these kids will continue to be excited about learning and helping others.

Sounds like your child already knows how to be a strong student and is used to being constantly praised and highlighted. Why do they need the continual public ego boost?


Who cares what parents say to their kids?

My kid sees the school recognizing others for this or that - kindness award, school athletes, but DC is invisible.

To me it feels that American public schools celebrate mediocrity, because I don’t see the outlier being celebrated and I know they are there from all kinds of families.


It is all kinds of families. It’s unremarkable when a high income family drives their kid to enrichment programs, tutors when it turns out their kid is average intellectually, SAT private and prep classes before taking the SAT test 4 times. Everything is calculated down to the weekly schedule.

Compare that to the kid who walks home to their public housing high rise. No one will be home until 9 pm after their shifts. The majority of kids living there are hanging out outside. This kid stays home and studies all afternoon. Self starter, ambitious, intelligent, doing their best. This kid would have loved a tutor to get their ACT up to a score of 33 but they got a 30 on their own. Not bad.

Seriously, who is more impressive?


Im my opinion, the question is the amount of effort. There are kids who get to 35-36 without tutors. So a score of 30 is not great. It’s like participation trophy - yay, you did some work.

And if a kid has a tutor it still takes hours and hours of practice to get to that level. There is no magic.


It’s really obnoxious to claim 30 score is “not great”. A 30 on the ACT test puts them in the 95th percentile. In case you don’t understand this means that they did better than about 95% of test takers. A 30 and up is considered excellent.

How ignorant are you? And please don’t claim that everyone “in your circle” has kids who get 35 and 36 because that would be a lie.


In my circle 30 is not even worth mentioning.
My friend’s daughter just got a 30 and she is failing half of her classes.

45% of DC school scores >= 30. But no one mentioned the kids who got 35-36. Kindness awards are more important.


Go back to the safe space of your circle. We don't need you.
Anonymous
Post 04/29/2026 08:03     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
The private school brags because they are trying to get your tuition money. The public school doesn't need you. (I won't comment on your kid because they hope they have much better characters than you, OP, and would be mortified by your behavior).

Is your husband in BigLaw?
Anonymous
Post 04/29/2026 07:58     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Get a life, OP. The world doesn't resolve around you.

It's totally correct to celebrate people who did something of value for the community over someone who was selected into the elite.

Your kid's reward is their elite internship and their NMS award.
Anonymous
Post 04/29/2026 07:18     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I mean do they even need to say anything? I went to a top ranked magnet and to this day still know who was a national merit finalist. It was also published in our local paper (which was a big county).

But I agree with you. I think a lot of times these admin who write this stuff have a chip on their shoulder. They play favorites. Same with what holidays they recognize. My school had Chinese New Year celebrations as well as Eid and Nowruz, but they definitely would never mention Christmas or Easter.


The admins usually are parents to low-performing offsprings themselves. They harbor a deep resentment against the kids who are high achieving because mostly these kids are of East and South Asian origin. You can guess the race of such admins.


This is ridiculous.

Or the admins realize there are many children worthy of acknowledgment. They have to think of all the children and all the various forms of accomplishment present in a school (content mastery, athleticism, growth, work ethic, etc.).

They aren’t focused only on your child. That’s your job. If you want to praise your kid more, then do it.


Our middle school of 1000 kids during a 30 minute graduation ceremony gave out under 10 awards and at least 3 of them were to some student who I had never heard achieved anything before or be in any honors class but had unnatural colored hair like blue and apparently was going through a transgender moment because the name they read wasn't their name from elementary school. These were all opinion related awards. Best all round student, Most enthusiastic student. It was a bit infuriating that in a class of 1000 they couldn't find other kids to round out the very few awards given out and gave her at least a third of them.



Why are MAGAs obsessed with blue hair and transgender people?

There were 1000 kids and you knew who was in what class and what their name was in ES? Seems totally legit.
Anonymous
Post 04/28/2026 14:28     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Here is a thought, OP.

You become the PTA board member or the PTA president. Then you take over celebrating kids for all significant academic achievements. And then you raise funds, and do the organizing, and buy the rewards and manage the snacks...and keep organizing these events for ALL students. In this way, your kid will also be celebrated with other kids.

Want to do that? I did it for my own kid at his school. Which means that it removed this task, effort, time and cost - from the plate of the school and teachers and I organized the event for all kids who could be celebrated for academic achievements.

I say - GO FOR IT. Does not matter if you are a Tiger Mom, a Lion Mom, a Puma Mom, a Jaguar Mom, a Llama Mom or a Kangaroo Mom. Heck, you could also be a Seahorse Dad. All izz well.
Anonymous
Post 04/23/2026 23:58     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:I taught science and I had to grade hundreds of papers on my holidays and weekends. I was pushing double over time. I drove an hour and a half to the city everyday. In the end my health suffered, my pay was crap after we pay the pension and the union fees. I found the union to be useless in protection as poor bad kid classes were down right dangerous many times.

I worked with some co teachers who did not plan anything. They had tenure, they had the pay check, they had the support and protection, and they had the easy street. That in turn makes all the ladder climbers go after the the fresh meat teachers to pick on.

With the work load, students and admin attacking and blaming teachers, the lack of pay, the amount of credentials and expensive college classes, the money taken out of my own check, then the pressure to fraud. It was too much. I dont ever want to teach this generation ever again.

What about without all of that (except maybe the low pay) by working as e.g. a tutor or a homeschool co-op teacher?
Anonymous
Post 04/22/2026 00:53     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
I taught science and I had to grade hundreds of papers on my holidays and weekends. I was pushing double over time. I drove an hour and a half to the city everyday. In the end my health suffered, my pay was crap after we pay the pension and the union fees. I found the union to be useless in protection as poor bad kid classes were down right dangerous many times.

I worked with some co teachers who did not plan anything. They had tenure, they had the pay check, they had the support and protection, and they had the easy street. That in turn makes all the ladder climbers go after the the fresh meat teachers to pick on.

With the work load, students and admin attacking and blaming teachers, the lack of pay, the amount of credentials and expensive college classes, the money taken out of my own check, then the pressure to fraud. It was too much. I dont ever want to teach this generation ever again.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2026 16:33     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:When teachers are forced to fraud the data and even our time sheets we are actually working against policy. People don't know that admin force us to work against policy or else. This is why we are fired without any job security.

If their is violence in the classroom we are ordered to report. If we report it makes the school look bad so they fire the teachers.


Play the game. Collect your checks. Document everything. Down to the tiniest detail. Fail those who need to fail and when someone asks just provide the data and evidence. If an admin bends the rule then their career does down the drain and you open the door to a nice payday incase they lawsuit you. It’s never been easier tbh. and if you do it like me even better, get yourself multiple endorsements but preferably ESL, get thrown into different subject areas (to provide “help” to those kids with limited English) and you’ll never have to grade or plan a thing. If you’re lucky to fly under the radar you hit the lotto. There are days I literally just chill in my “room” and not really do any work besides increasing my bankroll on DraftKings lol
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2026 11:14     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
When teachers are forced to fraud the data and even our time sheets we are actually working against policy. People don't know that admin force us to work against policy or else. This is why we are fired without any job security.

If their is violence in the classroom we are ordered to report. If we report it makes the school look bad so they fire the teachers.
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2026 05:10     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I mean do they even need to say anything? I went to a top ranked magnet and to this day still know who was a national merit finalist. It was also published in our local paper (which was a big county).

But I agree with you. I think a lot of times these admin who write this stuff have a chip on their shoulder. They play favorites. Same with what holidays they recognize. My school had Chinese New Year celebrations as well as Eid and Nowruz, but they definitely would never mention Christmas or Easter.


The admins usually are parents to low-performing offsprings themselves. They harbor a deep resentment against the kids who are high achieving because mostly these kids are of East and South Asian origin. You can guess the race of such admins.


This is ridiculous.

Or the admins realize there are many children worthy of acknowledgment. They have to think of all the children and all the various forms of accomplishment present in a school (content mastery, athleticism, growth, work ethic, etc.).

They aren’t focused only on your child. That’s your job. If you want to praise your kid more, then do it.


Our middle school of 1000 kids during a 30 minute graduation ceremony gave out under 10 awards and at least 3 of them were to some student who I had never heard achieved anything before or be in any honors class but had unnatural colored hair like blue and apparently was going through a transgender moment because the name they read wasn't their name from elementary school. These were all opinion related awards. Best all round student, Most enthusiastic student. It was a bit infuriating that in a class of 1000 they couldn't find other kids to round out the very few awards given out and gave her at least a third of them.


Children of donors?
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2026 03:32     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:I think there is way too much academic and extra-curricular pressure for schools to celebrate such achievements, OP.

Then why is OPs school celebrating academic achievement?
Anonymous
Post 04/21/2026 03:31     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:Everyone gets an A except for a teacher working 70 hrs per week. They get fired because admin forced them to grade fraud and MCEA had no ability to protect teachers against retaliation.
Why would admin fire a teacher for doing what they were told?
Anonymous
Post 04/20/2026 13:37     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
I think there is way too much academic and extra-curricular pressure for schools to celebrate such achievements, OP.

But also, schools celebrate sports achievements, which I think is unfair. Sports dominate the culture in this country to a ridiculous degree.

Anonymous
Post 04/20/2026 13:33     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Everyone gets an A except for a teacher working 70 hrs per week. They get fired because admin forced them to grade fraud and MCEA had no ability to protect teachers against retaliation.
Anonymous
Post 04/16/2026 12:41     Subject: School doesn’t celebrate high achieving kids
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Publics are like this. We can’t even announce honor roll any more because we might hurt people’s feelings. We can’t rank students.


Ranking students doesn’t even make sense. How could you possibly need that information.


It was done for decades. They still use Latin honors so why not just rank. It’s like we can’t acknowledge the hard work put in.


Because latin honors gets at "these are the top students who should be recognized" without getting into the ridiculous games kids play to maximize their ranking. There is no meaningful difference between the kid with a 4.564 and a 4.559, but those kids could be 20 slots apart. So kids game the system and don't take classes they WANT to take, because they feel like they can't risk not maxxing out APs or IBs or honors. Ranking kids damages their education and tells you literally nothing about their success or abilities that Latin honors don't also do.