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[quote]
was based on a desire to "create a venue where all kids who meet the high expectations" of the school are celebrated
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<p>Maybe everyone is getting a participation trophy.</p>
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"Members of the school community have long expressed concerns related to the exclusive nature of Honors Night,"
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<p>Some people complain and voila!</p>
<p>Now it looks like it is back on.</p>
<p>Interesting. The school finds it OK to have a special, separate ceremony to honor varsity athletes, which is not all-inclusive, but it’s unfair to have a special, separate ceremony to award academic high achievers because that is not all-inclusive. And we wonder why students are falling behind academically. </p>
<p>We’re heading for the society Kurt Vonnegut Jr. depicted in his short story “Harrison Bergeron”, at least academically.</p>
<p>A lot of sour grapes complaining I guess. ;)</p>
<p>^^ 
</p>
<p>The parents should be thankful. I went to my daughter’s middle school honors night and it was long and hot and boring, and my daughter was actually getting a fair number of awards. Anyone who got any award, even just finishing the AR point goal, was invited, the auditorium was full, and it took forever. It wasn’t well organized and the kids just wanted to get out of there so they could go to the 8th grade dance - where all the kids who hadn’t earned awards were already partying because the ceremony ran over by at least an hour!</p>
<p>I just received the notice for my D’s award ceremony (and assume will receive one for the other D), but she doesn’t know what it’s for and doesn’t want to go.</p>
<p>It’s crap like this that makes me not want to go into education.</p>
<p>I thought that the whole point of having the separate “by invitation” ceremony was so that kids who did not receive awards would not be embarrassed and would not have to sit through it. Now people complain that they didn’t get an invite?
Our high school gives out all academic awards at a separate ceremony. Awards are listed in a program and kids’ names are called to receive an envelope containing all their certificates. No awards are announced, and about half the class is invited.
I suspect that those kids listing “college scholarship” with not one other, even minor (school honor roll, NHS, state curriculum completer, etc.) honor, are receiving need-based financial aid, but their parents signed them up for the ceremony because the kid “got a college scholarship.” This clogs up the “academic recognition” with kids that, imo, should not be there. Yet they are get as much recognition as the AP scholars, governor’s scholars, NMF’s, state and presidential scholars, etc. </p>
<p>I thought it was odd that my son’s high school gave awards to kids for excellence in foreign language, but nothing for science or math. At least a few kids got local scholarships for math and science achievements!</p>
<p>I attended a medium sized high school with a large auditorium. We had a during school awards assembly and all kinds of academic awards were given. I liked that plan because smart kids got recognized by the whole school and younger kids got to see what was possible for them. We also had whole school pep assemblies during school hours, which I also liked because 1) we missed class and 2) it helped bring the school together. </p>
<p>My kids attend a huge school, so no auditorium or gym will hold them all at the same time. There is an athletic banquet just for varsity athletes and an academic awards assembly just for the invited. Both are in the evening. Pep assemblies are before school and so voluntary. The school struggles with whom to invite to the awards assembly because the space is limited. I am sorry that the awards assembly can’t be for all students to attend so they can all see what kinds of awards are possible. </p>
<p>They reinstated it to avoid becoming a laughing stock of the nation:</p>
<p><a href=“School That Banned Honors Night For Being Too ‘Exclusive’ Decides Not To Be National Laughingstock”>http://news.yahoo.com/school-banned-honors-night-being-too-exclusive-decides-140225476.html</a></p>
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</p>
<p>This is mainly a poor reflection of the school admins. </p>
<p>They shouldn’t have scheduled award events in such a manner that kids who weren’t eligible for awards effectively ended up getting “awarded” by being allowed to party earlier. Very poor planning and thinking on their part. </p>
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<p>The language students get awards because those departments–Latin, French, and Spanish–participate in the annual national exams and the kids win them. If the math and science departments were regularly participating in the national math exams (AIME?) or science olympiads, those kids would be recognized too. They do award the Renssalaer Medal annually, and that is a science award. There are academic awards in all areas for seniors. I <em>seem</em> to recall when kids who placed well at the state and regional science fairs were also recognized on that night.</p>
<p>Personally, I preferred it when the Evening of Excellence included the NHS induction.</p>
<p>
That’s an understatement…</p>
<p>I’m becoming somewhat jaded from hearing about all these school canceling award ceremonies, removing cords and special recognitions from graduation ceremonies, and preventing students from announcing their colleges and the like. Is their an end to “protecting the feelings” of those who simply did not achieve what others did?</p>
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</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>Oh, then please tell me where it is so I can sit there, no longer bring blind sided by these random requests and uncalled for cancellations. </p>
<p>I’ve seen a lot of that. On the other hand, in CA a school really needs test scores and my sons’ school pins all sorts of privileges on how well you did on your ‘school report card’ tests which otherwise don’t impact the student who takes the test, to make the students care. If you get at least ‘proficient’ on all subjects, you get a pass to leave campus at lunch, otherwise you are stuck on campus while your friends can go off (and yes, they have pictures on the passes and wont replace them if you lose them.) I just found out that graduation tickets are given out based on that too. All students get four, but those who got ‘proficient’ on their exams get one extra and those who got advanced on all sections get two extra. My sons want to sell the excess, which the school allows, apparently. They also want to give a couple away, which I am ok with, since we won’t need all we will get, with each twin getting 6.</p>