Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. The cords are expensive and mean nothing.

Why does it mean nothing to get good grades in multiple AP classes, get over a 4.0 GPA, complete service hours, be in National Honor Society, etc.?

I haven't been to a FCPS graduation, but do they actually announce all these things or print them in the program? Is there a program? If not, they are at least a visible way to acknowledge hard work and success.
I think it's crazy to do away with all of that.

We already don't have valedictorians or class rank, which is a real problem on college applications.

So you just want to be able to show off that you have a smart kid who joined a lot of clubs? Shouldn't the knowledge that your child achieved all of this be enough?

You're way off. My kid is a sophomore and not on track for any of the cords I mentioned, himself. He is a varsity athlete, but I doubt they get cords. I still think that academic acheivement should be celebrated, and what better place than at graduation?
Now, as I said in my PP, if they are being acknowledge in some other way (announced at graduation or in the graduation program or at a separate awards dinner) then that is great and I love not participating in buying expensive cords. But if this is a backhanded way to NOT honor academic acheivement - like not having class rank or valedictorians, then I think it's the wrong decision.

Our school has a “class day” before graduation where lots of kids with special achievements are recognized. And I’d be surprised if graduation programs don’t continue to recognize kids in NHS, AP Scholars, IB diploma-track kids, etc.

This mostly sounds like discouraging a lot of expensive, extraneous, and sometimes controversial bling at graduation so, if it’s true, kudos to Reid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please articulate why this is important to you/your kid?

(To be clear, I ask this question as the parent of kids who do very well academically, and their graduation accessories are not something that matters to me, so I'm trying to understand where you're coming from.)

The reasoning the kids were given is to protect the feelings of those who don't have honor cords -- who (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) decided not to join the honor societies or organizations that the honor cords denote. So, some kids are not being allowed to celebrate their hard won success to protect the fragility of others.

This is the same thing as the "participation trophy" in kindergarten soccer - -except now we are talking about adults about to enter the real world.

So you would prefer kids achieve to get external validation? And celebrate by purchasing decorative stuff?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good. The cords are expensive and mean nothing.

Why does it mean nothing to get good grades in multiple AP classes, get over a 4.0 GPA, complete service hours, be in National Honor Society, etc.?

I haven't been to a FCPS graduation, but do they actually announce all these things or print them in the program? Is there a program? If not, they are at least a visible way to acknowledge hard work and success.
I think it's crazy to do away with all of that.

We already don't have valedictorians or class rank, which is a real problem on college applications.

So you just want to be able to show off that you have a smart kid who joined a lot of clubs? Shouldn't the knowledge that your child achieved all of this be enough?

You're way off. My kid is a sophomore and not on track for any of the cords I mentioned, himself. He is a varsity athlete, but I doubt they get cords. I still think that academic acheivement should be celebrated, and what better place than at graduation?
Now, as I said in my PP, if they are being acknowledge in some other way (announced at graduation or in the graduation program or at a separate awards dinner) then that is great and I love not participating in buying expensive cords. But if this is a backhanded way to NOT honor academic acheivement - like not having class rank or valedictorians, then I think it's the wrong decision.

Our school has a “class day” before graduation where lots of kids with special achievements are recognized. And I’d be surprised if graduation programs don’t continue to recognize kids in NHS, AP Scholars, IB diploma-track kids, etc.

This mostly sounds like discouraging a lot of expensive, extraneous, and sometimes controversial bling at graduation so, if it’s true, kudos to Reid.

Anonymous wrote:The cords and stoles are completely out of control. It is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:OP, where is this info, I would love to see it verified.

Constant dumbing down. We worship all the athletes but academics mean nothing. Well my kid didn't make states in her sport. So I don't think we should hear about anyone who did? See how stupid that sounds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Troll.

I assure you I'm not. I have a rising HS Senior who came home last week and told me this news. I'm trying to corroborate this information here before I send my feedback directly to Michelle Reid!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please articulate why this is important to you/your kid?

(To be clear, I ask this question as the parent of kids who do very well academically, and their graduation accessories are not something that matters to me, so I'm trying to understand where you're coming from.)

The reasoning the kids were given is to protect the feelings of those who don't have honor cords -- who (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) decided not to join the honor societies or organizations that the honor cords denote. So, some kids are not being allowed to celebrate their hard won success to protect the fragility of others.

This is the same thing as the "participation trophy" in kindergarten soccer - -except now we are talking about adults about to enter the real world.

They can celebrate with family and friends. It is easy enough for a parent to make a toast be say "we are so proud that you graduated and that participated in list of X activities."

I think the problem now is that people are less interested in achievements for their own sake. It’s not enough for the school, family and close friends to recognize achievements. They want the whole world to know because everything is performative now. Parents are worse than their kids with this. Blame social media.

Anonymous wrote:Shocked an appalled, an educational institution that refuses to acknowledge educational achievement because it might hurt someone’s feelings. Equity bringing everyone down to the lowest common denominator. Whoops my bad, I used a math term than many may not recognize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, could you please articulate why this is important to you/your kid?

(To be clear, I ask this question as the parent of kids who do very well academically, and their graduation accessories are not something that matters to me, so I'm trying to understand where you're coming from.)

The reasoning the kids were given is to protect the feelings of those who don't have honor cords -- who (whether voluntarily or involuntarily) decided not to join the honor societies or organizations that the honor cords denote. So, some kids are not being allowed to celebrate their hard won success to protect the fragility of others.

This is the same thing as the "participation trophy" in kindergarten soccer - -except now we are talking about adults about to enter the real world.

They can celebrate with family and friends. It is easy enough for a parent to make a toast be say "we are so proud that you graduated and that participated in list of X activities."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank God the equity bs will be long gone in college. Kids are recognized with cords at college graduation based on GPA.

Have you been to a college graduation recently? All of them wear so many different things now. No one can tell which is for academic honors and which is for some club they were in.

Damn, did seeing that give you cancer or did you lose a leg?