My takeaway from this is:
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I’m really really glad none of the schools I attended did this. Admittedly they were small schools, so different animals, but I think no matter how you play it, it’s bound to be a circus.
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Our school does do it, and it has all the goofiness described, but the one we attended was pleasant enough. Honor roll, high honor roll, various departmental awards, various local scholarships. It seemed like a nice opportunity for kids to get some recognition, often some of the kids who don’t normally have a moment in the sunshine, and I don’t think anyone lost any sleep over the kids who’d ranked in some other capacity (prestigious outside scholarship or whatever) that didn’t get a mention in the school-centric night. I’m sure they were getting plenty of moments in the sunshine in other ways.
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However the school plays it, if you, as a parent, see room for meaningful improvement that’s not just about making sure your particular kid gets more glory (always a risk, even if not so in this case), go for it. Personally, I would suggest that my school line up the presenters for the mini-scholarships in advance so we don’t have to wait for them each, individually, to extricate themselves from their seats and find their way up to the podium. Kids on stage worked well, though.