Good Grief!

A very depressing link via today’s Best of the Web via Joanne Jacobs via Sheila Astray via Photon Courier…finally back to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Whew. Though this material has obviously been covered, it’s worth posting again. Marquis Harris, who interviewed for a teaching position in the Atlanta area, describes himself as follows:

I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology….I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean’s List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president….While in college I was also privileged to serve on mission trips to Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica. In the summer of 2002 I was granted the opportunity to intern with Saxby Chambliss, who was then a U.S. representative running for the U.S. Senate. I served for two years as a court-appointed special advocate for the state of Kentucky.

After the interview, Harris received the following e-mail from the principal:

Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck.

Nice. Wouldn’t want these crazy kids to get any ideas about high academic achievement. A reader on the Joanne Jacobs site makes the astute observation that it’s probably not the kids who would feel threatened by Mr. Harris.

And just for good measure, Photon Courier then links back to Joanne Jacobs for yet another depressing education read…this time about Nashville schools:

The school honor roll, a time-honored system for rewarding A-students, has become an apparent source of embarrassment for some underachievers.

As a result, all Nashville schools have stopped posting honor rolls, and some are also considering a ban on hanging good work in the hallways - all at the advice of school lawyers.

After a few parents complained their children might be ridiculed for not making the list, Nashville school system lawyers warned that state privacy laws forbid releasing any academic information, good or bad, without permission.

I think this article mixes the two separate issues a bit–students with hurt feelings and a possible violation of state privacy laws. The district is working on “permission slips” to address the latter. As for the former, well, whatever. You can’t really argue that not putting the name of an academic underachiever on the honor roll is some kind of perverse reverse privacy violation. Right? Damn, I hope that’s right. At any rate, we need to get over this idea that no one should have hurt feelings ever. Maybe these complaining parents should spend less time bitching and moaning to the schools and more time helping their kids develop their own unique strengths.