<p>Our school yearbook does senior superlatives every year, with people winning categories like best personality, most likely to succeed, best musician, etc. However, this year (also the first year the school won't recognize val and sal), the school decided that for the yearbook pictures they will have all students that received any votes be in the photos, along with the actual winners. This means anyone who got nominated as a joke also gets their picture taken with the people who actually earned their title. Upon finding this out (we just heard today that this is how it would be), those of us that won superlatives have universally responded in a negative way. We plan to start a petition and write to our principal to protest. It seems like this instance is just one more example of society's increasing refusal to recognize exceptional people, and I was wondering if any of my fellow CCers (who are usually the high achievers) have had similar experiences. Have you had any luck getting the administration to see sense, or is it a lost cause? Don't worry, I'm not planning on physically smacking anyone, that's just what I felt like doing so I decided to post about it instead because that seemed less dangerous.</p>
<p>The superlatives are pretty joke-like anyway, aren’t they? You think winning “best hair” or something similarly vapid in your class of probably fewer than 500 people makes you exceptional? I think it’s good that your high school includes everyone because it might help people like you understand that nothing you do in high school matters beyond making friends and learning stuff and getting into a college that will allow you to accomplish your academic goals. </p>
<p>Senior superlatives are trivial and light hearted - it isn’t like people will actually be impressed if your peers thought you were the best dressed senior at your school or you were “most likely to be a millionaire” - my school’s senior superlatives are intentionally stupid - “Selfie Queen” “Cute as a Button” “Most Dramatic.” </p>
<p>Chill out, dude. </p>
<p>It’s in a high school yearbook. Of a class of, at most, a thousand kids. Many of these kids will become janitors, homeless, alcoholics, plumbers, or serve my burgers. </p>
<p>Let them wallow in what is clearly your limelight, as these urchins will see no more of the light in the dark, hellish experience that clearly awaits them due to their lack of superlatives.</p>
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<p>I love how these are all equal to people on here.</p>
<p>I guess the hobos trump the plumbers; some of them provide entertainment.</p>
<p>Jeez, I don’t care about the superlatives themselves, it’s just the fact that no one wants to admit that there are in fact people that are superlatives in the class. The fact that they have taken it away just shows that apparently no one’s parents can handle the fact that their children aren’t all equally fabulous.</p>
<p>@foolish -
Except that alcoholism is considered an addiction and disease and isn’t really the equivalent of a short order cook, a janitor, or a plumber, which are all honest professions.</p>
<p>Plus, I don’t think you know how much plumbers can make. I know plumbers that make more than my mother (federal attorney) and her friends (private practice attorneys in Boston). Plumbers are in super high demand and have huge earning potential. Like, 120k+/year earning potential. </p>
<p>Your username suits you well. </p>
<p>Clearly I must have been referring to earning potential, as that is the only ranking criteria.</p>
<p>And I was making fun of OP with that list, of course being homeless and being an alcoholic are not professions.</p>
<p>@foolish - You were equating all of them on some basis, obviously - even if it wasn’t earning potential. What similarities do a plumber, a homeless person, an alcoholic, a fastfood employee, and a janitor share? Please explain. </p>
<p>If you are dead set on doing so, I would recommend that you phrase your argument in a different way than you are now. Your current argument makes it seem as though your objection is “I’m exceptional and I should be recognised for being so,” which quite frankly would make me less likely to favour your side. De-personalise your argument and try to find a way to make it sound less elitist.</p>
<p>As a person with plenty of experience petitioning school authorities, you should absolutely NOT get all of your friends together and have everyone sign a petition. Simply request a meeting. Signing a petition seems a much more hostile move than just asking if you could discuss the matter with your principal. Speak to or email his or her assistant and schedule a meeting. Most likely, though, the decision to include everyone wasn’t even his - it was most likely the yearbook staff who decided. Try talking to them before you take this whole ordeal directly to the one in charge of everything.</p>
<p>All of this having been said, I think it’s pointless to bring up this issue, not because you won’t be able to change it, but because, as other users have commented, it doesn’t matter. If one is truly exceptional at something, their peers will know it and won’t need it published anywhere for people to know. And if they are exceptional for the right reasons (for their own personal satisfaction rather than for looking better in other people’s minds), it wouldn’t matter to those students whether they were published winners or not.</p>
<p>Or maybe I’m just bitter because I didn’t win “most likely to become a dictator of a third world country.”</p>
<p>(Read like Bill Clinton) LET ME BE CLEAR: I don’t actually care about the superlatives themselves, I care about how our school is one by one losing the distinctions it gives to the top of the class. I am not val or sal, but I found that development quite frustrating because those kids earned that title and now the school wont recognize it. As far as my thread title goes, which really illustrates my true concern, I suggest you watch The Incredibles because it captures my sentiment perfectly.</p>
<p>Perhaps the point is that some of us feel that yearbook superlatives are already a celebration of mediocrity. WHo cares who your classmates thought was funniest or most likely to succeed? These are meaningless accolades. </p>
<p>@preamble1776</p>
<p>Generally seen as lacking prestige, whether rightfully so or not</p>
<p>I don’t think getting rid of val, sal, other kinds of recognition is really celebrating mediocrity…just not celebrating smart kids (at least as much). And I don’t really think there’s anything wrong with that. In the real world, people don’t really care too much whether you have fancy award or so on and so forth, and it doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>Additionally, having a val and sal is no real means of measuring actual dedication or future success - it just means that those people have mastered the art of GPA preservation. </p>
<p>When I hear “plumber” - I don’t think about prestige or distinction, I think, “some a-hole who’s going to charge me 800 dollars to fix my sink.” But I certainly don’t think they’re inferior in any way - they do what no one in my family can do - my parents both have advanced degrees and couldn’t, for the life of them, figure out how to make our washing machine stop overflowing this summer. LOL. </p>
<p>I think I would be mad if this were some award for people who are hard workers or got high grades or something. But not for this. I don’t think those “senior superlatives” are that important. But what do I know? I’m just a freshman.</p>
<p>@dsi411 - You know quite a bit, actually. Senior superlatives aren’t important. </p>
<p>If you don’t care about the superlatives then why are you going to broach the issue? The superlatives don’t really fit in with your complaint about the school not acknowledging excellence, because winning a superlative doesn’t show excellence. </p>