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Sunday, May 25, 2014

Right gets it wrong on honors night

Cole Middle School Cancels Honors Night

So this story had the right all in a tizzy, including Dana.  Can't fault them, though.  It did have a juicy line:
"Members of the school community have long expressed concerns related to the exclusive nature of Honors Night," the email stated.
Nothing raises the ire (whether produced for her show, or real, who's to know) of Dana quite like "success shaming".  Since they canceled Honors Night due to it's exclusive nature, the right were on it like rabid dogs.  On the surface this looks like another case of success shaming.  But look a little deeper, and you'll find something possibly less sinister.

So, they cancelled Honors Night.  First things first, what the heck is Honors Night?  All I know is it is held after school hours, and include awards found in this school pdf on page 18.  I am not aware if it is a dinner or not. 

Who attends this function?  Well, I'd have to guess, but I believe it would be the students and parents of the award winners, and faculty.  This is where the exclusivity comes in.  I am guessing very few non award winning students come.

It you were to win an award, wouldn't you want to accept it in front of the largest audience?  Is that, in fact, what happened?  They didn't cancel the awards, just the night.  They planned on having the awards ceremony as an in school event  Who stands to benefit from this change?  To me, it's not the students who don't win awards, as they now have to be in the room when the awards are given.  So if the award winners are the ones to benefit, as they can now lord their achievement over a larger audience, who complained about the exclusive nature of Honors Night?  Could it be the award winners themselves?  Quite possibly.

Forgetting my speculation here, they still didn't cancel the awards, so excellence was still being rewarded.  Judging by almost every right wing pundit's reaction, they missed that point.  To them, the school couldn't be bothered to reward excellence, in fact everyone gets to be number one.  They couldn't be farther from the truth. 

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