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I find it interesting that one poster first stated that educators and parents set kids up to anticipate rewards later in life, but then in another paragraph states it was cruel for the kids not to receive awards. So if they had received an award it would have been setting them up to expect rewards in the future, but it was cruel for them not to earn these awards?
As I read the posts on this thread I do not feel that anyone is saying there should be no rewards. But many posters feel that there are too many awards and that they are given out too often.
For example, you state you do awards every 9 weeks. Why so often? When I was at school, it was once a year and then only the top of the class received one. No citizenship awards, no awards for As or Bs, just the top of the class. I can never remember any of us feeling hard done by.
My school was also very sports oriented ... mainly rugby. There the goal was making the first team. That took me 8 years. If you did that you got to wear first team socks (which were different) even if you subsequently dropped out of it. No ceremony or anything, just the socks.
It may have been me that commented on the problem when these kids hit the world of work. It really is a problem. Many cannot deal with the reality that their performance is average compared to their peers. We have kids resign because they cannot deal with it. We have had parents phoning us to ask about it. You cannot make this stuff up. Educators and parents are doing the kids a huge disservice with all these awards, telling them how great and special they are, etc,etc.. They need to get their feet back firmly on the ground.
This whole situation is odd. The school has a separate ceremony for athletic-related awards? Are these for accomplishments in P.E. or for extra-curricular activities? What are the requirements to EARN the awards? Even though it seems strange that everyone but 2 got them, is it not possible that all of the other kids completed some kind of activity, met some requirement, etc. and for whatever reason these 2 did not? Are they Jehovah's Witnesses or another religion/belief system that precludes them from receiving awards, participating in celebrations...? Perhaps there is a different ceremony for other awards and these 2 will have earned awards for that event. It seems from the details we were given that the kids would have felt excluded, but there are many specifics we don't know; the OP doesn't seem to be the parent nor an administrator who determines the selection criteria, so I don't know if it possible to make a valid judgment without all of the facts.
At my school we have academic awards for all As or As/Bs(plus 2 awards per class for citizenship - must be 1 boy and 1 girl) every 9 weeks - 1st and 3rd 9 Weeks awards are done in class and the semester awards are done in the cafeteria with the entire grade level. There is a parent who comes every time - a parent who is not friends with the other parents, her child is not friends with any of the kids outside of school, so she does not seem to be there to support others - even though she did not receive an invitation indicating the child received an award... The child consistently recieves Cs and Ds and has about 4 office referrals. After every ceremony, she rushes up to him to give him a big hug in front of his peers and says, "Oh, that's okay, they probably made a mistake and meant to give you an award."
I find it interesting that one poster first stated that educators and parents set kids up to anticipate rewards later in life, but then in another paragraph states it was cruel for the kids not to receive awards. So if they had received an award it would have been setting them up to expect rewards in the future, but it was cruel for them not to earn these awards?
The kids are not of any specific religion-The school holds its' awards ceremony during school hours. The awards are for academic and sports combined. Awards are "drummed" up for other kids such as "least talkative" in library, an award for junior high football for a student in the 5th grade (the students are not allowed to play until 6th grade but the kids grampa is the coach). The P.E. teacher refuses to hand out Presidential Fitness Participation Awards even though they are available. It's almost as though he won't accept anything but exceptional jocks. He expects all students to partake in some kind of sports and if a student is not athletically talented, he ignores and downs them. What shocks me is that there are more awards for sports than academics.
We had a very similar situation when my kids were in elementary school. Awards were given to all but one child in a class, who was left sitting alone in near tears. It was one of the cruelest things I had ever seen in a school. I complained to the principal, and nothing was done. From that day forward, I kept my kids home on awards day.
Out of curiosity, did you ever get flack from the school for keeping your children home?
Out of curiosity, did you ever get flack from the school for keeping your children home?
Never. I was always very clear about why they wouldn't be in school that day when I called the attendance office. I figured if the principal wanted to discuss it he could call me, but he never did.
How would you feel if your childs school held their Academic/Sports Awards program and two students (brothers) were excluded from any type of award? This happened at our school and these kids are humiliated beyond belief. Neither one is athletic, sports oriented, gifted ect....I do know that one of the boys has gone three years being the ONLY one in the class to not receive an award. Would you "find" some type of award or continue to exclude him in front of the entire elementary student body? Or do you agree with some parents that awards are earned and therefore "empty" awards should not be given? I feel for these kids and their parents show up every year to show support only to watch their childrens humiliation.
Oh, for a return to the early days when I taught and each teacher could only give out 1 or 2 awards for excellence: one academic, one for achievement / or / improvement.
No paranoid parents expecting every child to get something. Parents expected excellence.
I retired 8 years ago............. and the "everyone has to get an award" mindset had already started.
It does not help the kids who get awards they don't deserve, it hurts the kids left out, and it does not value the kids who truly deserve awards.
The kids are not of any specific religion-The school holds its' awards ceremony during school hours. The awards are for academic and sports combined. Awards are "drummed" up for other kids such as "least talkative" in library, an award for junior high football for a student in the 5th grade (the students are not allowed to play until 6th grade but the kids grampa is the coach). The P.E. teacher refuses to hand out Presidential Fitness Participation Awards even though they are available. It's almost as though he won't accept anything but exceptional jocks. He expects all students to partake in some kind of sports and if a student is not athletically talented, he ignores and downs them. What shocks me is that there are more awards for sports than academics.
Ahh... if it is an overall awards ceremony AND they have faux-awards thrown in there, then it really is bizarre that only 2 didn't receive anything.
For example, you state you do awards every 9 weeks. Why so often? When I was at school, it was once a year and then only the top of the class received one. No citizenship awards, no awards for As or Bs, just the top of the class. I can never remember any of us feeling hard done by.
We have them every 9 weeks because our grading periods are every 9 weeks... and because that is what our administrator and our district require.
It may have been me that commented on the problem when these kids hit the world of work. It really is a problem. Many cannot deal with the reality that their performance is average compared to their peers. We have kids resign because they cannot deal with it. We have had parents phoning us to ask about it. You cannot make this stuff up. Educators and parents are doing the kids a huge disservice with all these awards, telling them how great and special they are, etc,etc.. They need to get their feet back firmly on the ground.
My comment re: someone posting about the problem with awards setting kids up for unrealistic expectations was to point out that the person who posted it - honestly didn't go back to see who it was - in 1 paragraph mentioned that the awards set kids up for those expectations and then in another paragraph said that it was cruel NOT to give the awards to those 2 kids. It just seemed like 2 different viewpoints in the same post.
I have taught at 2 different schools. At neither school were the awards given out per teacher desire. It was fully administrator/district directive (current school) and "It's tradition!" at my previous school. I agree there are too many awards in many cases. At my school staff members are supposed to reward individual students with "bucks" when they are seen behaving above and beyond what would be expected. Problems: 1) We are REQUIRED to give out X number per week. We have repeatedly broached the topic of what to do if we don't observe that behavior in a given week. We must give them out no matter what, so if we don't truly observe the behavior, we still have to give them out. 2) "Above and beyond" is broadly interpreted. Did a kid hold the door open for an adult? Yay them - they get a buck! I was raised to hold open for the person behind me - adult or not - and if someone's hands are full and you are behind them, you rush to the door to open it for them. I don't see having basic manners as above and beyond, but we are instructed to view it that way. I feel we should have the expectation of common courtesy and the students will live up to those expectations when modeled - and the majority did before implementation of these bucks - but now it seems many only do something "exceptional" when they see or sense a staff member nearby who might give them a buck. They of course use these to trade for items like pencils, toys, etc.
We also have "coupons" when an entire class behaves (not supposed to be your own class). Not even necessarily amazing behavior, but sometimes just showing good behavior such as following standard procedures in the cafeteria. We have to give out X number of these per week as well, even if the only other class you routinely see (as an entire class, anyway) is a 5th grade class on your way to lunch... and they are consistently being reprimanded by the VP for something or other when we pass them.
I get the idea behind the bucks and coupons, but feel they are not implemented in the best way possible. Again, the program is not teacher-driven; we are just the ones who have to give out the bucks and coupons. (And there is a portion of our appraisal that relates to following district and school procedures and guidelines; someone who rebelled and only gave these things out when she truly felt they were merited got dinged on that part of the appraisal.)
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(And there is a portion of our appraisal that relates to following district and school procedures and guidelines; someone who rebelled and only gave these things out when she truly felt they were merited got dinged on that part of the appraisal.) 
