I just sat through a 2 hour awards assembly at my daughters high school. Now granted we have a little school so the Jr. High was there as well and received awards which I am sure added to the lengthy time, but wow, when did we start awarding kids for mediocrity?
When I was in school, you know when the snow was four feet high and we all walked to school barefoot uphill both ways, well we only got an award if we did something really significent. Like discover a new star, discover some kind of roto virus, or figure out how to pasturize milk. I saw kids get awards today for mere academic mediocrity and it got to me to thinking. Is it better to get an award that is lessened because everyone got one or not to get one at all? I was the kid on the playground who always got picked first. I could not help it that I was bigger than everyone else. It was not my fault that my genetic genes somehow aligned to make me a decent athlete, musician and scholar. I was labeled early on to be a success when I grew up. How I wanted to go live under a bridge and show up at our twenty year reunion with a ratty beard, dirty clothes and an old shopping cart. I just know it would give those kids who always got picked after me a thrill. Anyway I digress.
So when did we start rewarding mediocrity? I remember at my high school graduation the only thing I really figured I would get was a diploma. At least I hoped I would get a diploma. Actually they gave us a blank piece of paper and told us to come back on Monday so we could find out if we had passed all of our courses or not. Not that I was worried, I had good grades but not "that" good that I was up for any awards. I remember getting called across the stage and I got my diploma and the "Presidential Academic Fitness Award". I did not remember registering for it or even applying for it but Ronald Reagan must have caught a press clipping about my 10 points and 4 rebounds when we played Claremore. Anyway I got back to my seat and one of my friends, Keith Anderson (yeah the country western singer) leans back and points at my award and says, "what is that?". So I tell him what it was and he gives me a weird look and says, "I lettered in four sports, why didn't I get one of those". It was at that moment I saw in his eyes the haunted looks all of those kids who got picked last for the kickball game. I felt bad for the all stater, the supreme athlete that everything came easy to. I actually had something that All American Keith Anderson did not have, a Presendential Award to say the least! So I have always felt good about that award, until today that is. They were handing out some award that one of the kids said Barak Obama had signed. I mentioned it to my wife, who did not play sports past the 8th grade year in school, when she said she had gotten that award too and Ronald Reagan had signed hers as well! It was then that I realized that they have been awardig mediocrity for some time... I just did not realize that I was mediocre until today...
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