What is going on in this country? From the university level on down, students are being taught that mediocre is ok. If you excel, keep quiet about it. Everybody is a winner… right?!?!? And not only that, those on the left (the media, school officials, and politicians) want people to have “pride” in all sorts of bizarre behaviors, but we are not allowed to recognize accomplishment. Just look at one high school that decided students won’t be recognized at graduation for being in the National Honor Society.

As reported by WFAA.com Channel 8, students at Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas were told that members of the National Honor Society (NHS) would not be allowed to wear NHS regalia with their graduation gown. That’s right. According to the school, the decision was made because “school administrators want everyone to feel included in graduation and not single students out.”

Hello?!?! Everyone who is actually graduating is included. If certain people are jealous or sad or envious because others are recognized for achievement, then so be it. That’s life. There are those who work hard, put in the hours, and excel. There is NOTHING wrong with recognizing achievement.

Fox News reports that students at other surrounding high schools can wear the NHS stoles, but not this high school. The school responded to Fox News with this statement:

We are aware that many honor students may not also be members of the National Honor Society, but the school has opted not to include additional regalia per tradition. This long standing practice was questioned by students twice in the school’s history, once in 2004 and again around 2008 or 2009. Both times, the tradition of not including any regalia for various student clubs, honor societies, leadership roles or other activities was explained to them, and in 2008/2009, class officers and student congress were given the opportunity to consider a change in the practice. The student leaders opted to uphold the tradition. The campus will look at the practice again next year if students wish.

And this isn’t the only instance of this craziness. The Washington Times reports that the Wake County school board in North Carolina voted to stop naming high school valedictorians and salutatorians. Why??? Because the school board says that their action is “an effort to reduce ‘unhealthy’ competition among students.”

According to The News & Observer, “Wake is planning to switch to a system similar to the language that colleges use to recognize high-achieving students.”

The new system would result in more seniors being recognized. [School Board Chairman Tom] Benton said this is a better approach, especially in schools where there could be 400 to 600 seniors, for recognizing students than just to single out one or two students in a ranking that could come down to a thousandths of a decimal point.

Hmmm… when I was in high school, we had magna cum laude and summa cum laude AND we still recognized the top two students. Guess what? No one exploded. No one freaked out. Have we truly become a country that is afraid of competition?

It’s disturbing to see schools back away from celebrating accomplishment. They want everyone to be the same… to feel the same… unless, of course, you have a left-wing-approved difference that you can have “pride” in. I guess being smart and hard-working doesn’t make the cut any more.

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