Wall of Shame - Rejection letters as Therapy

<p>My kid’s high school had the “Wall of Shame”, too. When I first heard about it, I thought the name was hilarious. It’s great to joke about being rejected; I think it helps take the edge off the ‘ouch’ factor.</p>

<p>Reminds me of the story of the advice that F. Scott Fitzgerald supposedly gave to young would-be writers: “paper your house with rejection letters.”</p>

<p>I can see how the “Wall of Shame” is funny, but I must admit I’d want to add some notes to it like, “Wall of Letters Schools Will Later Regret Sending!”, “Wall of Make 'em Sorry!” and so on. </p>

<p>This kind of thing would be totally out of place at S’s school. Lots of kids already work nearly full time to help their families. Being able to stitch together the time and money to attend our local cc is a success story…and I absolutely agree that it is. </p>

<p>If I win the lottery, setting up a scholarship fund for higher and technical ed at my S’s hs is high on my list.</p>

<p>In law school we had a “Tube Board” for posting rejection letters from law firms, clerkships, etc. It was great fun and added a lot of perspective. It was amazing to see how completely clueless some people, including very successful people, could be when it came to writing a simple, straightforward rejection.</p>

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<p>Isn’t that the truth? In the corporate world there needs to be training on how to fire people properly and the same holds true for colleges with rejection letters. There really is an art to it and, based on evidence, it’s one very few people are born with.</p>