Let’s All Strive to Be Mediocre

A surefire way to ‘earn’ an F for effort

Published: Thursday, November 2, 2017 - 12:01

Several high schools throughout the country are now experimenting with eliminating recognition of students who have high GPAs. In fact, some schools have curtailed the labeling of a valedictorian or salutatorian. The rationale is that some students feel intimidated by other students who are studious, are educationally driven, and strive to be accepted at prestigious colleges.

On the other hand, there are some who counter that many of these high GPA scholars do not avail themselves of the more difficult courses and thus their high grades are somewhat inflated. The solution might be to mandate that certain advanced-placement core courses be included in the student’s curriculum before any recognition is provided.

This whole situation smacks of an attitude that wants everyone to feel good about their study habits, and thus discourages some students from achieving educational performance excellence. We see the same mentality in middle school and Little League sports, where some teams no longer keep score—where everyone gets a trophy, win or lose—and a championship team is not recognized or rewarded.

With that attitude in place, we might as well not have a Super Bowl. We should eliminate the World Series, place the hockey Stanley Cup in a museum, never have a Most Valuable Player, and of course give all players a “participation trophy” for just showing up.

Perhaps someone should alert local television station WXYZ Channel 7 in Detroit that its “Best and Brightest” tribute every year wherein the students with the highest grade point averages in each tri-county school are duly noted at the station and invited with family to attend a recognition event.

So let’s quit trying to soothe the feelings of those who are not high achievers, and provide instruction and direction to our offspring about doing the best they can, knowing that will be their goal. It reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where George is introducing a student to a board looking for a summer intern. The position was based on grades. George brings the student into the boardroom and states, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Steven Koren. His GPA is a solid 2.0—right in the meaty part of the curve. Not showing off, not falling behind.” That works in a sitcom but not in the real world.

Locally, I want to applaud the Lake Orion School District for a program called “Lamp of Learning,” wherein students who have demonstrated exemplary achievement in the classroom are honored each fall. Awards are earned based on the work of the entire school year. Students earn pins of bronze, silver, or gold based on a GPA of 3.5 or greater. Sorry, Steven Koren—a 2.0 doesn’t cut it.

In recognition for being the best, I pride myself in usually winning my age group in races, since at my age there are few people who are still competing. And next year when I turn 75, that age group category will be even emptier.

So yes, I subscribe to students and people being recognized for their achievements. Let’s abandon this foolishness about making everyone feel good about their grades and their sports accomplishments. It’s a tough world out there, and we need a citizenry of strong leaders and people with accomplishments. Some of you will agree with this philosophy. Others will not. And some will have difficulty reconciling their position with the University of Michigan Fight Song line, “The leaders and best.”

As for me, I’m getting ready for my next race this month. I may not be the best that day in my age group, but my goal is not to be mediocre!

About The Author

Bill Kalmar

William J. Kalmar has extensive business experience, including service with a Fortune 500 bank and the Michigan Quality Council, of which he served as director from 1993 through 2003. He served on the Board of Overseers of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and has been a Baldrige examiner. He was also named quality professional of the year by the ASQ Detroit chapter. Now semiretired, Kalmar does freelance writing for several publications. He is a member of the USA Today Vacation Panel, a mystery shopper for several companies, and a frequent presenter and lecturer.