Quote:
Originally Posted by Jen
Limiting awards to one or two seems really stupid - you do the absolute best than everyone else, and you get punished for it because other people want their kids to win awards they didn't actually earn.
It just sets a really crappy example that doing your best isn't actually worth it.
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Agreed.
Back when I was in high school, each department gave awards to the top 3 or 4 students. So while a school honors night could still "sort of" turn into a "John Smith show", there were plenty of other students getting awards - e.g. the math awards would go to John Smith, Rose Tyler, and Martha Jones, while the science awards would go to John Smith, Donna Noble, and Amy Pond.
At my high school, awards were also listed in the commencement program and read out when you got your diploma. We all got little cards that we'd hand to the announcer. If you hadn't received any awards the card just had your name on it. If you had received one or more awards, they were listed on the card, e.g. "Recipient, Social Studies Department Award, English Department Award - Sarah Jane Smith". There were always three or so people who raked in a lot of awards - usually the valedictorian, salutatorian, and class president, who were the last 3 to walk - and it was traditional that the class would count their awards. "Recipient, Social Studies Department Award - " - "ONE!" - "Math Department Award - " - "TWO!" - etc. I think I hit 14... I understand that they did away with this the year after I graduated - all the awards are still printed in the program, but the only awards that are announced are valedictorian and salutatorian.