Principal Pursues "Equity" Fails to Tell Students of Honors

[Brainster]

This particular story pisses me off to no end. The principal of the top-ranked high school in the country, Fairfax County, Virginia's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, decided to do her part for "equity." What did she do? She failed to tell students at her school who had won letters of commendation from the National Merit Scholarship. Apparently she did this specifically to prevent the students from noting this on their college applications.

An intrepid Thomas Jefferson parent, Shawna Yashar, a lawyer, uncovered the withholding of National Merit awards. Since starting as a freshman at the school in September 2019, her son, who is part Arab American, studied statistical analysis, literature reviews, and college-level science late into the night. This workload was necessary to keep him up to speed with the advanced studies at TJ, which U.S. News & World Report ranks as America’s top school.

Last fall, along with about 1.5 million U.S. high school juniors, the Yashar teen took the PSAT, which determines whether a student qualifies as a prestigious National Merit scholar. When it came time to submit his college applications this fall, he didn’t have a National Merit honor to report—but it wasn’t because he hadn’t earned the award. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a nonprofit based in Evanston, Illinois, had recognized him as a Commended Student in the top 3 percent nationwide—one of about 50,000 students earning that distinction. Principals usually celebrate National Merit scholars with special breakfasts, award ceremonies, YouTube videos, press releases, and social media announcements.

And it wasn't by accident; apparently they've been doing this for years:

In a call with Yashar, Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award.

The students most affected by this appear to be minority students, unfortunately the wrong minority--Asians.

 

[Mojo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

 

[Darat]

I think the article author is trying a tad too much "...assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned in..."

 

[catsmate]

I think the article author is trying a tad too much "...assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned in..."

Almost as interesting as only the right-wing media carrying the story.
Hmmmm...

Oh look, a little checking and the situation is rather different; the school did list those who made the semi-finals for the NM scholarships, just not those who were merely commended. And it had nothing to do with an imaginary" war on merit" either.

 

[The Man]

Wait, I'm not getting something. When one gets a letter of commendation is't there an actual, you know, letter involved? Now the article certainly suggests that it wasn't given with all the pomp and circumstance generally involved but doesn't indicate it was withheld. Just that the parents were not informed (the kid can do that) and the kid was, albeit in a 'low key' way.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

s always Vonnegut got it correct.

Showtime version (1995) here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxLhqVIhIWQ


(Disclaimer I have not watched this version but do remember the earlier one from PBS. -- Most likely:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sdp5-YdS9aE
)

 

[catsmate]

Wait, I'm not getting something. When one gets a letter of commendation is't there an actual, you know, letter involved? Now the article certainly suggests that it wasn't given with all the pomp and circumstance generally involved but doesn't indicate it was withheld. Just that the parents were not informed (the kid can do that) and the kid was, albeit in a 'low key' way.

It was all on the school website.

It seems a few of the right wing Usual Suspects, aided by the gutter and/or right-wing media, are trying to make the matter out to be vastly more than it actually was. And those inclined to believe such lies swallowed them unchewed.

 

[Brainster]

Wait, I'm not getting something. When one gets a letter of commendation is't there an actual, you know, letter involved? Now the article certainly suggests that it wasn't given with all the pomp and circumstance generally involved but doesn't indicate it was withheld. Just that the parents were not informed (the kid can do that) and the kid was, albeit in a 'low key' way.

Yes there is an actual letter (more like a small certificate). According to the article:

Bonitatibus still hasn’t publicly recognized the students or told parents from earlier years that their students won the awards. And she hasn’t yet delivered the missing certificates. The war on merit is a war on our kids.

 

[The Man]

Yes there is an actual letter (more like a small certificate). According to the article:

Well if it is on the schools website, as catsmate notes, then that is public recognition. Again, just without the pomp and circumstance generally involved. "she hasn’t yet delivered the missing certificates"? How exactly does one deliver something that is missing? If she hadn't delivered any, it would have just said 'she hasn’t yet delivered the certificates'. So the inclusion of the word "missing" at least implies some certificates were delivered and raises questions about the veracity of the story's intended message.

 

[catsmate]

Yes there is an actual letter (more like a small certificate). According to the article:

I see you continue to obediently regurgitate right-wing propaganda and lies.

Not the first time you've done this, so I assume it's deliberate.

Well if it is on the schools website, as catsmate notes, then that is public recognition. Again, just without the pomp and circumstance generally involved. "she hasn’t yet delivered the missing certificates"? How exactly does one deliver something that is missing? If she hadn't delivered any, it would have just said 'she hasn’t yet delivered the certificates'. So the inclusion of the word "missing" at least implies some certificates were delivered and raises questions about the veracity of the story's intended message.

That is putting it mildly.

 

[Robin]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

Read it when I was 12. A clumsy straw man that put me off Vonnegut and science fiction in general for years.

 

[TragicMonkey]

"National Merit commendation" just means a form letter repeating that you done good on those tests. Since any college applicant is sending their actual test scores already the separate recognition is unnecessary. Colleges know what a good PSAT/SAT score is, they don't need somebody clipping out a tiny article in their local paper saying that Principal Vicki Varicose honored four students of Podunk High School at a special breakfast at IHOP on Tuesday. Pictured: Cindy Smith (17) holding a plate of pancakes.

 

[Robin]

Apparently the National Merit Scholarship Corporation skimped on the postage so that the letters didn't arrive at the school until just before the deadline for college applications.

The Principal had to sign all the letters which was done within 48 hours of their being received. The letters were delivered late to the students by the home room teacher.

So nothing whatsoever to do with any "war on merit"

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/p...s/news-story/e6fceef07f05ae466800622378c7cac6

My oldest kids went to a pretty right wing school, where kids are made to sing Christmas carols about how terrible abortion and environmental action are (don't ask, I'll tell this story one day when I can unpack it.)

One of my son's participated in a schools debating competition in which they won gold nationally and silver internationally. The teacher in charge said my son had been the leader of the group and had contributed most of the research.

The school refused to name the individual members of the team and forbade the teacher in charge from providing any letters to the students acknowledging their part in the competition. On the graduation ceremony they did not mention the student's participation in the event. Yet they trumpeted it as a school achievement to the media.

Luckily the teacher in charge disobeyed orders and provided letters on school letterhead that could be used in university applications.

But this seems to be a clear attack on merit which is apparently OK because it's not being done by liberals.

 

[marting]

I'm gonna have to re-read Vonnegut's 1969 story "Harrison Bergeron." It's a story about equity. Extreme equity:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron

In the year 2081, the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the Constitution dictate that all Americans are fully equal and not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else. The Handicapper General's agents enforce the equality laws...

Vonnegut was hardly a right winger but an atheist and prominant anti-war writer.

I dated one of his nieces in college.

 

[Susheel]

I see you continue to obediently regurgitate right-wing propaganda and lies.

Well, now that Warp's gone, someone has to take the slack and do the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" thingy.

 

[catsmate]

Well, now that Warp's gone, someone has to take the slack and do the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" thingy.

Indeed, it's not the first time the OP has done this.

 

[Brainster]

Apparently the National Merit Scholarship Corporation skimped on the postage so that the letters didn't arrive at the school until just before the deadline for college applications.

The Principal had to sign all the letters which was done within 48 hours of their being received. The letters were delivered late to the students by the home room teacher.

And the prior years? You were so close!

I learned—two years after the fact—that National Merit had recognized my son, a graduate of TJ’s Class of 2021, as a Commended Student in a September 10, 2020, letter that National Merit sent to Bonitatibus. But the principal, who lobbied that fall to nix the school’s merit-based admission test to increase “diversity,” never told us about it. Parents from earlier years told me that she also didn’t tell them about any Commended Student awards. One former student said he learned he had won the award through a random email from the school to a school-district email account that students rarely check; the principal neither told his parents nor made a public announcement.

As for the anecdote about your son, I can't imagine any other reason for a right-wing school not recognizing his achievement, other than the usual equity bs. Why do you think they did it?

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Read it when I was 12. A clumsy straw man that put me off Vonnegut and science fiction in general for years.

More like social satire than science fiction.

 

[Robin]

And the prior years? You were so close!

Certainly closer than the article you linked.

So in the prior year the letters were delivered to the students on time but the parents were not separately notified.

God forbid that Karens should have to communicate with their own children

 

[gnome]

As for the anecdote about your son, I can't imagine any other reason for a right-wing school not recognizing his achievement, other than the usual equity bs. Why do you think they did it?

Isn't this a combined argument from ignorance and personal incredulity? If you want to suppose a reason, lack of a better reason (especially from lack of research) isn't a very strong case.

 

[Cat Not Included]

Read it when I was 12. A clumsy straw man that put me off Vonnegut and science fiction in general for years.

I felt similarly. I also couldn't make heads nor tails of what it was trying to be an analogy for. Like...putting ramps next to stairs will eventually lead to cutting people's legs off or something? I don't get what its protesting at all.

 

[Brainster]

Oopsy! Turns out a couple other principals in that county were shocked, shocked to discover that they had also neglected to inform their students who received a letter of commendation.

The revelations are emerging after school district principals scrambled to a meeting Wednesday afternoon with the superintendent, after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced a civil rights investigation into the controversy. Just like at TJHSST, the new revelations appear to impact many Asian American students – one focus of the investigation.*

In an email, obtained by the Fairfax County Times, Langley High School Principal Kim Greer pressed send on a mea culpa at 9:29:30 p.m. on Friday night, confusing, agitating and angering parents and students already on edge during the tumultuous college admissions season.

By "Friday night", they mean two days ago, January 6, 2023. And another principal issued the same apology, with the same wording:

In carbon-copy language, both principals wrote, “We understand and value the hard work and dedication of each and every student, and the families and staff who support them. Please be assured that we remain resolutely committed to supporting every student in reaching their unique and fullest potential.”

 

[theprestige]

That's the problem: Asian students just aren't unique enough. There's a billion of them, they all look the same, and they all follow the same academic track.

Anyway, at least we can all agree that if what Brainster alleges were really happening, it would be a bad thing, that merits serious investigation and probably serious consequences for the responsible parties.

So it's a good thing it's not happening.

 

[Brainster]

I felt similarly. I also couldn't make heads nor tails of what it was trying to be an analogy for. Like...putting ramps next to stairs will eventually lead to cutting people's legs off or something? I don't get what its protesting at all.

Ramps next to stairs just assures "equal access" or "equal opportunity", which nobody objects to. The school in question is pursuing what they call "equal outcomes" for every student. Now think about what you would have to do to have equal outcomes in, say the 100-yard dash. You'd have to put heavy backpacks on the more athletic boys and girls, or maybe put tacks on the track and make them run barefoot. Like the weights on the ballet dancers the couple was watching on TV in the story.

How do you ensure equal outcomes in mathematics? Well, it would be noble to claim you're going to make everybody excellent, but that's what schools have been trying forever. The other way to ensure equal outcomes is to teach only very basic arithmetic that everybody can understand, like 2+2=4.

 

[RolandRat]

Maybe a child who improves from say a fail grade to a D deserves just as much commendation as a child coming first. Maybe this is the message schools are trying to send out.

 

[Cat Not Included]

Ramps next to stairs just assures "equal access" or "equal opportunity", which nobody objects to. The school in question is pursuing what they call "equal outcomes" for every student. Now think about what you would have to do to have equal outcomes in, say the 100-yard dash. You'd have to put heavy backpacks on the more athletic boys and girls, or maybe put tacks on the track and make them run barefoot. Like the weights on the ballet dancers the couple was watching on TV in the story.

How do you ensure equal outcomes in mathematics? Well, it would be noble to claim you're going to make everybody excellent, but that's what schools have been trying forever. The other way to ensure equal outcomes is to teach only very basic arithmetic that everybody can understand, like 2+2=4.

No, "equal access" would be "everybody can use the stairs". Having both stairs and ramps is "equitable access" - everyone has access that works well for them. And people object to that kind of stuff all the time.

But where in the world are you getting this "equal outcomes" from? I've checked the school's webpage. I've searched some news articles. The closest I can find is "We remain committed to supporting every student in reaching their full potential.", which does not say that every student's full potential is going to be same.

In the more general sense, as far as I can find the political concept of equality of outcomes refers to everyone having approximately a good baseline access to resources and material wealth needed to survive and thrive, which has precisely jack and squat to do with running the 100 yard dash.

 

[Brainster]

No, "equal access" would be "everybody can use the stairs". Having both stairs and ramps is "equitable access" - everyone has access that works well for them. And people object to that kind of stuff all the time.

But where in the world are you getting this "equal outcomes" from? I've checked the school's webpage. I've searched some news articles.

Really? Here's the last article I posted:

However, for parents in the school district these examples of merit withheld from students raises serious concerns, particularly amid news that the FCPS superintendent signed a contract of about nine months, paying a controversial contractor, Mutiu Fagbayi, and his company Performance Fact Inc., based in Oakland, Calif., $455,000 for “equity” training that includes a controversial “Equity-centered Strategic Plan” with this goal: “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.”

From the original article:

This episode has emerged amid the school district’s new strategy of “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.” School administrators, for instance, have implemented an “equitable grading” policy that eliminates zeros, gives students a grade of 50 percent just for showing up, and assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned in. It’s a race to the bottom.

 

[theprestige]

Maybe a child who improves from say a fail grade to a D deserves just as much commendation as a child coming first. Maybe this is the message schools are trying to send out.

If that were the message, you wouldn't have to qualify it with a "maybe" - assuming they were actually competent and diligent in crafting and publishing such a straightforward and reasonable message.

What you're describing is perhaps the most ham-fisted, addle-brained, dishonest, unjust way to send such a message that I can think of. I'm honestly not sure what's worse: If that's really why they're doing it, or not.

 

[Darat]

Maybe a child who improves from say a fail grade to a D deserves just as much commendation as a child coming first. Maybe this is the message schools are trying to send out.

Don't be daft, they need their noses ground into the earth so they don't ever forget that they have failed! It's only fair.

 

[Puppycow]

I had a thought, which is probably controversial.

What is the purpose of a public education system, ideally?

If we could wave a magic wand and make it so?

All kids going to (or at least qualified to go to) Harvard, MIT or Stanford? All PhDs?

Doesn't a functioning society also need people do the banal things? The menial tasks that make things function? Isn't it supposed to be a sorting mechanism? Is every student supposed to end up an Einstein or a Shakespeare?

 

[theprestige]

I don't think anyone knows what the purpose of a public education is supposed to be, anymore. Not in the US, at least. I think it has degenerated into a half-assed jobs program for people who with a teaching credential, founded on the principle of "we must do something; this is something; we must do this!"

 

[Cat Not Included]

Really? Here's the last article I posted:



From the original article:

The article that thinks "NTI" for "Not turned in" is cryptic?

How about an actual source?

 

[RolandRat]

If that were the message, you wouldn't have to qualify it with a "maybe" - assuming they were actually competent and diligent in crafting and publishing such a straightforward and reasonable message.

What you're describing is perhaps the most ham-fisted, addle-brained, dishonest, unjust way to send such a message that I can think of. I'm honestly not sure what's worse: If that's really why they're doing it, or not.

Personally I think my comment is what schools try to do. It seems that people object to a stance such as this.

Not quite sure what's dishonest about it.

 

[Cat Not Included]

Really? Here's the last article I posted:



From the original article:

Out of curiosity I went to the Performance Fact website. Their big mission statement is:

All students will learn at high levels when instruction meets their needs. What a student has learned well already, is something she/he has been taught well already. And what a student has not learned well yet, is something she/he has not been taught well yet. Student learning, then, is an “effect” whose “cause” lies in the quality and effectiveness of educational practices. If we want improved outcomes for students, the starting point must be the continuous improvement of teaching practices, leadership practices and organizational practices, because they are the precursors to student learning. At Performance Fact, our mission is clear: To develop capable leaders, strengthen professional practices, and achieve extraordinary student results. We collaborate with our clients by aligning our external expertise with their internal vision for their schools and communities. Our sole commitment and “soul purpose” is supporting educational leaders and practitioners with a system of solutions for building stronger schools and accelerating learning for all students … from thought to results.

A lot of marketing speak in general, but going through a lot of their site, can't find a thing about 'equal outcomes'...or putting tacks on the athletic field.

(I mean, call me crazy, but I'd think that in reality striving for equal outcomes in track and field would probably look like scheduling practices and meets to take into account bus schedules, offering assistance programs to help students pay for the supplies and events, and taking steps to make sure that coaching is offered to all participants. But hey, what do I know. Probably tacks.)

 

[Darat]

I had a thought, which is probably controversial.

What is the purpose of a public education system, ideally?

If we could wave a magic wand and make it so?

All kids going to (or at least qualified to go to) Harvard, MIT or Stanford? All PhDs?

Doesn't a functioning society also need people do the banal things? The menial tasks that make things function? Isn't it supposed to be a sorting mechanism? Is every student supposed to end up an Einstein or a Shakespeare?

To impart a minimum level of knowledge and ability that lets them be a full member of society.

 

[theprestige]

To impart a minimum level of knowledge and ability that lets them be a full member of society.

"Full member of society" means what, exactly?

Someone who reaches the age of majority, with no education at all, is still eligible to vote. They're still going to be tried as an adult for any crimes they commit. They're still fully vested in all the rights and responsibilities enjoyed by their fellow citizens. They themselves are of course citizens in good standing. They're fully liable to be conscripted if the need arises. Etc.

 

[gnome]

Educated, literate people are less likely to commit crimes, better at not being scammed, better at knowing their own rights, better at understanding issues they vote on. Even if they have a "menial" job we benefit as a society when as many people as possible have a basic education. I can't believe this is even debatable.

 

[theprestige]

Educated, literate people are less likely to commit crimes, better at not being scammed, better at knowing their own rights, better at understanding issues they vote on. Even if they have a "menial" job we benefit as a society when as many people as possible have a basic education. I can't believe this is even debatable.

Who's debating it?

 

[gnome]

The person that wondered what it was for?

 

[Puppycow]

Educated, literate people are less likely to commit crimes, better at not being scammed, better at knowing their own rights, better at understanding issues they vote on. Even if they have a "menial" job we benefit as a society when as many people as possible have a basic education. I can't believe this is even debatable.

Fair points. I am questioning it rather than debating it, because I admit that I don't have a firm conclusion yet in my own mind.

Let's start with crimes.

There is a correlation between criminal activity and educational attainment, but is it a causal relationship? Or are the people who turn to easy shortcuts and lack patience less likely to do their homework, study for tests and succeed in school and for the same reason also more likely to commit crimes? There's an assumption that if the student does not succeed, the teacher has failed, but maybe the problem is the student, not the teacher?

I guess what I'm questioning is whether this is a problem that can be solved (realistically) by the education system.