Boy Kicked Out Of Reading Competition Because He Reads Too Much

[Aristotelian]

babylonsister (144,884 posts)

Boy Kicked Out Of Reading Competition Because He Reads Too Much

Boy Kicked Out Of Reading Competition Because He Reads Too Much
August 21, 2013 | Filed under: Education,Headliner,Uncategorized | Posted by: Miranda Burbank



One of the largest impediments to a good education is summer vacation. If those three months or so are spent in front of the TV or even being physically active, a child is likely to lose a lot of what he learned over the previous school year. For that reason, many school districts and municipalities try to provide learning opportunities that last through the dog days of summer. Hudson Falls, NY offers a reading contest for school children – one in which the student who reads the most books wins. However, they have determined that the boy who reads the most reads too much and they’ve asked him to drop out.

Nine-year-old Tyler Weaver of Hudson Falls, NY loves to read. In fact, over one summer vacation, Tyler read 63 books. Marie Gandron, a library director in Hudson Falls, thinks that’s too much – that Tyler’s reading discourages other children from entering their annual reading contest. In a phone conversation to Tyler’s grandmother, Katie Weaver, Gandron said, that Tyler “hogs” the contest every year and that he should “step aside.”

“Other kids quit because they can’t keep up,” Gandron said.

Gandron further told the reporter she planned to change the rules of the contest so that instead of giving prizes to the children who read the most books, she would draw names out of a hat and declare winners that way.

Educating to the lowest common denominator is not a new phenomenon in the U.S. Advanced students are often at similar disadvantages to learning-disabled students. Advanced students get bored and their grades, attendance and behavior often suffers as a result.

Reading can help level the playing field. It can introduce unmotivated students to the love of learning and it can keep advanced students engaged and challenged. By taking the reading requirement out of a reading contest, Gandron may think her heart is in the right place, but she’s assuming that the only purpose of a reading contest is to win. Winning isn’t the goal. Reading is the goal. I’m sure that many of the contest’s past “losers” won the biggest prize of all, which was a new-found love of reading. As a library director, she should understand that.

more...

http://samuel-warde.com/2013/08/boy-kicked-out-of-reading-competition-because-he-reads-too-much/

DUmp Link

Sounds like the competition is run by some DUmmies: "you can't win, you're too good."

A couple of DUmmies make reasonable comments...but that can't last:

bemildred (69,390 posts)
3. Maybe you ought not make it competitive in the first place?

Reading isn't about defeating anybody else.

kiva (2,943 posts)
6. Or maybe they should give prizes

for kids who check out books even if they don't read them, because this sort of contest really discriminates against kids who can read.

Please tell me this one is joking.

zipplewrath (9,183 posts)
8. Dumb contest, dumb rules

It's a dumb contest with dumb rules. You know your rules are dumb when they have you making dumb decisions. It emphasizes quantity over quality and it pits people in a competition against each other. Reading isn't a battle, it's not a game of winners and losers. It's a tool for communicating and learning. The rules should emphasize communication and learning.

Response to zipplewrath (Reply #8)Thu Aug 22, 2013, 04:42 PM
Nay (6,150 posts)
25. Thank you. Stop making everything a big ****ing competition to the death, ffs.

If you read a certain established number of books over the summer, you get a prize! How hard is that? Anyone can 'win' that contest with the requisite effort of reading the required number of books, and it emphasizes the true object of the contest -- to get kids to read over the summer. Jesus, are people really this crass and stupid???

Response to babylonsister (Original post)Thu Aug 22, 2013, 03:44 PM
malthaussen (2,579 posts)
9. This is one of the problems with our *stupid* goddam obsession with competition.

Everything has to have a winner or loser -- this is why the sport the rest of the world calls football is not particularly popular in the US, despite attempts to push it. Everything has to have a ranking, from "Best President Ever" to "Best Toilet Paper Ever."

It's too much, and I submit it is part of the cause that our society is sliding down the razor blade of life.

/Rant off

Can't have a winner
Can't have a competition
Could it be because they're all 

[Rebel]

People that tend to have a problem with competition are the same ones that would come in last in a 10 yard walking contest. For them to pimp Darwin and evolution, they sure as hell don't see the irony in hating competition.

[Wineslob]

"It's not FAIR!!!!!"





DU mode 0ff.

[oldcrow]

Why the hell do we cater to the mediocre? And people wonder why this country is sliding . That director should be demoted and/or replaced. This kid should be held up as a model, not told to step aside.

[Aristotelian]

People that tend to have a problem with competition are the same ones that would come in last in a 10 yard walking contest. For them to pimp Darwin and evolution, they sure as hell don't see the irony in hating competition.

Two perfect points. Their utter failure in any competition is pretty obvious - I hadn't thought about the Darwin line though...

[JohnnyReb]

Two perfect points. Their utter failure in any competition is pretty obvious - I hadn't thought about the Darwin line though...

Survival of the fittest.....not the unfittest ......or those that vote democrat like we do now.

[vesta111]

Two perfect points. Their utter failure in any competition is pretty obvious - I hadn't thought about the Darwin line though...

We were given 3 books to read in the summer.  When school started up about a month in we were given a quiz on the books we had to read.   For some reason we girls knew most of the answers but very few boy had any idea what the titles or authors were.

[jukin]

Educating to the lowest common denominator is not a new phenomenon in the U.S. Advanced students are often at similar disadvantages to learning-disabled students. Advanced students get bored and their grades, attendance and behavior often suffers as a result.

Komrades this feature, not bug. Not fair some are better. Only way to make fair is to make all equally stupid or miserable. It's going to be glorious future komrades, GLORIOUS!!

[DLR Pyro]

kiva (2,943 posts)
6. Or maybe they should give prizes

for kids who check out books even if they don't read them, because this sort of contest really discriminates against kids who can read.

This is along the same flawed logic that produced the common core math bullshit where kids don't need to know the right answer to what is 3 x 4 as long as they can explain how they got to the wrong answer (does admitting they are a dumbass count as a reasonable explaination?).  Any wonder why we are falling further and further behind other nations in academics?

[JohnnyReb]

So, when will the DUmmies want to discontinue Valedictorians and Salutatorians? .....and substitute an affirmative action scholar.

[lastparker]

People that tend to have a problem with competition are the same ones that would come in last in a 10 yard walking contest. For them to pimp Darwin and evolution, they sure as hell don't see the irony in hating competition.

Hi5

[DLR Pyro]

So, when will the DUmmies want to discontinue Valedictorians and Salutatorians? .....and substitute an affirmative action scholar.

it won't be long. We have already substituted qualified candidates for an affirmative action president.

[Ptarmigan]

Fairness run amok. Why not get rid of Valedictorian. Hell, why not just get rid of school. 

[Delmar]

We were given 3 books to read in the summer.  When school started up about a month in we were given a quiz on the books we had to read.   For some reason we girls knew most of the answers but very few boy had any idea what the titles or authors were.

Let me guess.  Was one of the books was Misty of Chincoteague? 

[98ZJUSMC]

a child is likely to lose a lot of what he learned over the previous school year.

Complete and utter, bullshit.  

Hell, why not just get rid of school.  

And get rid of the Liberal Factories!?!?!?

Perish the thought....

Why the hell do we cater to the mediocre? And people wonder why this country is sliding . That director should be demoted and/or replaced. This kid should be held up as a model, not told to step aside.

It's because the, less than mediocre,  have been able to acquire a stranglehold on thought through Marxist enablers (AKA the (D)emocratic Party) since 1967, or so. 

[seahorse513]

As a child I was encouraged to read. One's spelling is better, not too mention grammar and comprehension. It can open up new worlds, and be open minded. I enjoy reading, as it opens up the imagination. If one can't read, how do you fill out a job application, or write a resume? How can one read a recipe, or a catalog? When one can read, the world becomes your oyster....

[Aristotelian]

Fairness run amok. Why not get rid of Valedictorian. Hell, why not just get rid of school. 

You miss the point - schools (for the liberal) are not about educating children, they're about forming them in the liberal mindset. Parents can't be trusted to brainwash children so the liberal education industry gets them for hours every day to tell them about Bobby's two dads, how useful big government is, &c.&c.&c.

[thundley4]

Fairness run amok. Why not get rid of Valedictorian. Hell, why not just get rid of school. 

Yuma-1 considers no valedictorian    PDF    Print    E-mail
Written by Tony Rayl      
Thursday, 15 August 2013
      Yuma-1 Superintendent Robert Stannard presented a proposal to do away with the valedictorian and salutatorian designations for graduating seniors, Monday night during the Yuma-1 board of Education meeting.
      The superintendent explained the process is stressful and ambiguous, particularly with more and more classes counting for more than a 4.0. He also said being a valedictorian does not carry as much weight with college admission offices as it did in the past. The admission offices, and even the Colorado Department of Education put much more weight on ACT scores than actual grades.

http://www.yumapioneer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5517&Itemid=99999999

We're all No. 1! Is 21 valedictorians too many?
When the seniors say farewell to South Medford High in Oregon next weekend, one of the school's 21 valedictorians will lead the flag salute, another valedictorian will recite the history of the 365-member class, and a third will introduce the keynote speaker. But all 21 can enjoy a sweet piece of the ceremony, if they choose.

At Enterprise High in Alabama, the valedictorians — all 34 of them — plucked names from a hat to gain coveted speaking spots during their commencement earlier this month. And at Bluffton High in Ohio, more than 10 percent of this year’s 84-member senior class carried the title “valedictorian.”

As graduation season peaks, numerous high schools are rightfully praising their clusters of valedictorians yet also forsaking a time and tradition when just one elite student received that honor — along with the lone ranking of No. 1 in class. In fact, at South Medford High, all of those 21 valedictorians can tell colleges they are No. 1 in their class.

This is where “New School” has crushed “Old School.” And this is where college administrators say they are growing increasingly suspicious about the surge in applicants who boast the laurels of “valedictorian” and “head of class.”

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/were-all-no-1-21-valedictorians-too-many-6C10164648

[JohnnyReb]

Well, my sons graduating class did have 2 salutatorians.....they both had the exact GPA/GPR whatever the hell they call it now. The valedictorian had a 5.2 ????????? Tell me how that happens? Things have certainly changed since I graduated 50 years ago.

My son was an Honor Graduate. I was told by the school that his ranking in his class would have been higher if he had taken more "weighted" classes instead of 4 years of ARMYJROTC. He got only a 4.0 for his A's in that class which pulled down his GPR.

Hey, I was only trying to get him ready for the big war I see in our near future.

[seahorse513]

Well, my sons graduating class did have 2 salutatorians.....they both had the exact GPA/GPR whatever the hell they call it now. The valedictorian had a 5.2 ????????? Tell me how that happens? Things have certainly changed since I graduated 50 years ago.

My son was an Honor Graduate. I was told by the school that his ranking in his class would have been higher if he had taken more "weighted" classes instead of 4 years of ARMYJROTC. He got only a 4.0 for his A's in that class which pulled down his GPR.

Hey, I was only trying to get him ready for the big war I see in our near future.

I would have fought that tooth and nail. Army/ROTC would far outweigh any college prep classes. I hate when schools downplay the military. Not everyone is suited for College life, anymore than everyone is not suited for the military. I CHOSE the military(though I couldn't get , because of of medical deficiencies). I felt that the advantages were much greater. I would have been a better person, more secure in life...

[obumazombie]

Darwinism is great, until it stops advancing the lib agenda.