Poof! Gone is our Middle School Honor Roll

[Tinker'n'Fun]

This is a pet-peeve of mine. My kids are always at the top of the list, but I personally prefer no ceremonies, etc. They work hard and they know it. We know it because of their report cards. The teachers acknowledge it and let them know they are doing a great job. They hated the ceremonies. They were riduculed for being smart. Feelings were hurt at every ceremony. And because "everyone is special", the school bully who never did any work got the "Excellent Christian Attitude" award.

We had bunny ear awards, stick people awards, flexibililty awards, language awards, 1st, 2nd. and 3rd. honors (3rd. honors would be an overall average of C). It was a nightmare.

Neither of their high schools formally recognize high honors and that is fine with all of us.

 

[autumnpalm]

It's interesting reading which % equal which grades on this thread! At my elementary and high schools (and I think this goes for everywhere in Ontario, but I could be wrong!) the marking scale was:

100-80 A
79-70 B
69-60 C
59-50 D

I have never heard of anything different before!

We had honour roll only in High School and there was one for 80%+ averages and then those with 90%+ averages received an Award of Distinction. However, honestly? Most kids and parents barely even paid attention to the honour roll. It wasn't posted in the newspaper, there was no special assembly or breakfast or anything. There was just a list on the back of the school newsletter twice a year!

 

[dislaney]

Grade school had an awards ceremony where all the kids attended. They gave a bunch of different awards including high average, good citizenship, and some more general ones- not all the kids received awards. Some kids did receive multiple awards.

Junior High also had an awards ceremony but it was at night and only the kids receiving awards were invited to attend. I liked the way they did this the best. The kids that didn't receive awards didn't really even have to know about it.

I think kids should be rewarded and really hate the everyone should be rewarded mentality.

 

[luvmy3]

The scene I'm thinking of is when they are all in the car, Mrs. Incredible is driving and talking to Dash...



You're thinking of a scene that echoes the thought, where Mr. Incredible realizes what Syndrome has done...


So, one of the basic (if not *the* basic) premise of "The Incredibles" is that excellence should be rewarded.

agnes!

Yes, you are right, I didn't remember that scene with Dash and I was thinking of the one with Syndrome. Thanks for the clarification.

It's interesting reading which % equal which grades on this thread! At my elementary and high schools (and I think this goes for everywhere in Ontario, but I could be wrong!) the marking scale was:

100-80 A
79-70 B
69-60 C
59-50 D

I have never heard of anything different before!

This isn't a joke?

 

[livie1205]

my DSS came home with a AB honor roll paper..well he got a C in one his classes !

 

[cheermom1]

Grade school had an awards ceremony where all the kids attended. They gave a bunch of different awards including high average, good citizenship, and some more general ones- not all the kids received awards. Some kids did receive multiple awards.

Junior High also had an awards ceremony but it was at night and only the kids receiving awards were invited to attend. I liked the way they did this the best. The kids that didn't receive awards didn't really even have to know about it.

I think kids should be rewarded and really hate the everyone should be rewarded mentality.

this is the our school does it too ..if you are to get an award than you are invited to the awards ceremony if not then they don't show up...

 

[autumnpalm]

This isn't a joke?

Nope?

Maybe some other Canadians could chime in and report their experiences? But growing up I went to numerous high schools across the province and this was my experience everywhere. An 80%+ average here is considered an A and will get you into many university programs (not all, particularly in the maths and sciences, but many BA programs).

There are quite specific province-wide testing programs where things are graded on a system of Level 1-4. There is EQAO testing for math and literacy in grades 3, 6 and 9 and then a literacy test in grade 10. Everything is consistent across the province so I believe the percentage/grade relationship is the same too.

 

[tinkntraining]

At our high school, it's:
92-100% overall average = honor roll
92-100% in every class = distinguished honor roll.
The only award I'm aware of from the school district is a pool-party bash at the end of the year for everyone who earned honor roll over the entire year.

I'm a mom with 2 teen daughters, both distinguished honor roll students, both taking honors classes/AP classes. I have one DD who works very hard for her A's. Spends an extraordinary amount of time studying and doing homework and even extra credit if it's offered.

My other DD? Well she earns straight As without really trying. Am I proud of them both? You betcha. Do I tell them how proud I am? Yep. Do I think they BOTH deserve that honor? According to the school district rules, they both meet the qualifications, but I think only one of them EARNED it.

JMO.

 

[Becky2005]

We have Honor Roll & High Honors but I couldn't tell you much about it. In middle school, they do get local business to give them some sort of discount if they show up with their ID card & the sticker on the back saying they made honor roll. It's good for the quarter.

I think you have to get all A's to get on the High Honor roll. No breakfast or any recognition AT school.

At High School they don't do anything for it either.

Now our school DOES do a breakfast for Character Counts awards. It is before school though and not everyone gets one. My DD got the "Caring" award one year and that was it, out of 3 years, only 1 award. My DS last year got "Citizenship" I think.

Other than that, the honor roll really is no big deal here.

 

[luvmy3]

Nope?

Maybe some other Canadians could chime in and report their experiences? But growing up I went to numerous high schools across the province and this was my experience everywhere. An 80%+ average here is considered an A and will get you into many university programs (not all, particularly in the maths and sciences, but many BA programs).

There are quite specific province-wide testing programs where things are graded on a system of Level 1-4. There is EQAO testing for math and literacy in grades 3, 6 and 9 and then a literacy test in grade 10. Everything is consistent across the province so I believe the percentage/grade relationship is the same too.

I am just amazed that a student who scored an overall average of 50 would be considered passed Do you not have a failing grade (F), or do Canadians consider a D to be a failing grade?

 

[dejr_8]

I don't really understand why this is a big deal.... it ought to matter more at home than at school anyway! Throw your own party or have your own breakfast....

Because it demotivates the kids who do well. In the past, my son's middle school held a breakfast for the kids that made A or A/B honor roll. My son was very excited about getting a certificate.

Starting this year, every student is invited to the breakfast (at which they no longer serve food - can't figure that one out) and they have "created" additional "awards" so that virtually every student now gets a certificate.

AS my son said "there is nothing special now about making honor roll"

Why can't we in the country no longer celebrate success and hard work?

 

[luvmy3]

Because it demotivates the kids who do well. In the past, my son's middle school held a breakfast for the kids that made A or A/B honor roll. My son was very excited about getting a certificate.

Starting this year, every student is invited to the breakfast (at which they no longer serve food - can't figure that one out) and they have "created" additional "awards" so that virtually every student now gets a certificate.

AS my son said "there is nothing special now about making honor roll"

Why can't we in the country no longer celebrate success and hard work?

Because that would be unfair to everyone else

 

[cheermom1]

Because that would be unfair to everyone else

no you mean the ones that don't work for their grades...sorry but this is the way I see it..

my dd is very smart and is always on the honor roll but she is also in a lot of AP classes and classes that challenges her so she has to work for her grades ..now my son is a/b student however he wasn't till this year and he worked but he is a very brilliant kid that just can't get it from his head to the paper or whatever ...all his teacher tell me this..so instead of just giving him awards and things they work with him to see what is he is good at and weaknesses are and help him understand what he needs to do to get the grades ...

I feel that the most schools are not doing this anymore ...they need to help that kid understand what he needs to do to get those grades instead of seeing as working hard..sure they maybe working hard but they maybe working hard doing it the wrong way for them...

I tell my kids all the time if they are having trouble to go to the teacher before school or whenever they can and ASK for help!!!!

i may not being saying this the way i want so please bare with me...

 

[LuvOrlando]

For the life of me I just don't get the mentality behind this sort of thing. No matter what, who we are and how we behave influences our lives. It influences our jobs, our standard of living, it influences what sort of mate we will end up with, it defines our kids in terms of genetics and upbringing. Pretending that doing well in all areas of life has zero effect on outcome only sets kids up for a big flat slap in the face when they grow up and realize they do not get a set of keys to a nice car and nice house when they turn 18 'just because'. How on earth is that a benefit to anyone?

I'm all for honoring each person's individual achievements but how does pretending we're not all as different as snowflakes accomplish that goal? Not everyone has the same gifts, shouldn't people work on a way to celebrate individuality instead of robbing the kids who are gifted intellectually of the right to feel good about themselves? Why is it ok to deprive one set the ability to feel good about themselves in deference to another group? Its just so wrong.

I think all the kids would be better served if an award system was as diverse are their gifts. Some kids are smart, some are disciplined, some are artistic, some are athletic, some are popular, some are inquisitive, some are good at teaching, some are good friends and each attribute has an important place in our lives. Why not celebrate them all so the kids learn from one another instead of trying so darn hard to water it all down?

A smart kid with zero social skills is as bad as a popular kid with no academic skills and an artist with no discipline is as bad as an engineer with no creativity.. they'll all get in their own way in the end. I happen to think a well rounded kid will be better off than all the other choices.

 

[mamacatnv]

We moved our DD to a high achieving charter school and this was one of the reasons why. We want her to be challenged and rewarded for excelling. We want her and her classmates to be singled out for working hard etc.

Her school does a quarterly award ceremony, all kids are in attendance and 2 awards are given - Academic Excellence for a 4.0 and Honor Roll for a 3.5 or better. The kids name is called individually per class, they come up and are given a certificate for their achievement. At the end of the ceremony if you are holding a certificate you get to stay for cake and ice cream while all the other students return to class.

Once last school year, all the kids were allowed to stay for cake and ice cream and the parents did not agree with this practice. The parents are all sending their kids to this school for a reason and treating them all the same so no ones feelings get hurt is not one of the reasons. That was the last all inclusive cake party.

 

[mnrose]

I think the Honor Roll is ridiculous if 90% make. Why not 100% if 90% make it. LOL!

When I was in school (in the dark ages) less than 15% made then honor roll. 5% the A honor roll, and another 10% B honor roll. Hard and fast. No exceptions. It meant something.

I'd love to see a return to this.

 

[allison443]

I agree that they've made the achievement pretty meaningless now. However if 90% of a class was "above average" to start with we are talking some SERIOUS grade inflation to start with.

Unless you live in Lake Woebegone where all of the children are above average.

Lake Woebegone was the first thing I thought of!!

Really, 90% of the students have a 3.0 or better? That is serious middle school grade inflation.

However, I will say I am in favor of recognizing true academic achievement. That's one of the things I like about my kids' high school. Academic achievement is recognized just as much as athletic or other accomplishments. I mean, it is a school!!

 

[Tinkmom75]

My experience from school is based on the tens
90 to 100 A's
80 to 89 B's
70 to 79 C's
and so forth. There was also A+, A, A- so on in each category. Our point system for GPA went up to 4.0 and it didn't matter what class you took if you got A it was a 4.0, A- was less and so on and so forth. This has changed in the HS my daughter attends and you can get up to a 5.0. You get higher GPA for AP classes.

My oppinion, they should keep honor roll we currently have all A's or AB honor roll MS and HS. We have the system describes by Mickeypooh99 in our elementary. There are far too many kids on the honor roll. Since when do 20 out of 25 students get honor roll grades. The system has been dumbed down. It used to mean something to be on the honor roll. It personally motivated me to do better in school. I was already a good student, but when I heard what the top 10 was in our school I decided that day I was going to be in the top 10 and I did.

Is every child special, yes. Does every child that tries something deserve an acknowledgement, maybe. Does every child deserve the same thing, no. The top or cream of the crop does deserve something. I wasn't good as sports so I didn't get top awards, but I know people who worked really hard and put in a lot of effort to get those rewards. Maybe if honor roll meant something special more students would try harder. My middle child is smart as a whip, but he is likely to be the one sleeping in college cause he hasn't been challenged. The only thing that he really is interested in as far as scores are his reading SRI because this number he has proven he far exceeds the other students and it is special for him. The rest of the work he does top scores, but has capped out at the max. So it is quite easy for other students to reach the same scores. It isn't special anymore. I think the new average is a B which really isn't saying the students are brighter because it has been made easier for more students to achieve this. Dare I say thanks NCLB.

Or perhaps I am wrong to think high achievments should be recognized and we should all just act like sheep... baa ba

 

[luvsJack]

I think the Honor Roll and Academic Achievement Awards should be completely seperate. The school is correct in the statement that some kids work very hard but are still not able to get on the honor roll, so it woud be nice for those kids to be recognized, too. But that should not take away from the kids that do make the Honor Roll, they should still be recognized too.

There is a way to do both and still not look like everyone is given an award for breathing.

 

[Pigeon]

The school said the changes were made for the benefit of the kids.... We (society) are too concerned about grades and test scores and should concentrate on learning instead.

If this came from our district, I'd be laughing so hard I'd moisten myself. The only thing the school administration cares about is test scores. They test the kids so much that they don't have time to teach them, and just send it all home for homework.

There is an honor roll in our junior high, of varying levels. The standards are sufficiently high that it is a much smaller percentage of kids who make it compared to the OPs.

On one level, I think the principal has a point in that some kids never make the honor roll but can work their tails off. Other kids who make the honor roll don't have to sweat it. However, if they are just going to give everybody a certificate, they should just can the whole thing.

I have a kid who is a high achiever and makes the high honor roll. There is no ceremony for making the honor roll. You get a nice letter from the Superintendent and they post your name on the wall. That's about it.

The school also has a "Student of the Month" award, which is actually 4 students of the month (one for each hall). It takes into account the student's academic achievement, with an emphasis on effort, responsibility, student citizenship, etc. For that they have a breakfast once a semester for the families of the students who've been named student of the month. The winners can be kids who don't necessarily have high GPAs (although many do), but who work up to their potential. I think that's a great idea.