Society will not prosper under this current system

The public schools in several states have been removing honor and AP classes. Apparently the officials behind these moves believe that the students enrolled in such classes are considered “superior” to their classmates. Therefore, they think the best way to maintain fairness is removing these classes altogether. There are many in academia who strongly believe that any underachiever individual is actually “oppressed” and is the victim of the society’s unfair system.

One wonders why this rationalization is not applied to athletics in our schools? Obviously, only students with athletic prowess are chosen to play in sport teams. Will the unselected students feel “inferior” for being ignored? Our esteemed sociologists don’t seem to question this disparity and never mind when education is sacrificed.

The reason being that the athletic system in our country operates quite differently from our education system. A coach can scold the student athletes, bench them for incompetence and take away their scholarship if they don’t perform according to expectations. However, teachers can’t even say a word to the students who are lazy and study poorly. Somehow criticizing the students for mediocre performance could shatter their self-respect while promoting the brighter and hardworking students is considered injustice.

Naturally all the talented and handworking people must be applauded and rewarded for their achievement. This will encourage other people to do the same. Unquestionably, the environment and life circumstances of individuals are very important in their development and position in the society. However, these are not the only factors that make a “person.” Blaming the society for a person’s underachievement is in effect ignoring his or her individuality. In our contemporary culture the pervasive attitude is to hold other people responsible for an individual’s misfortune. Unfortunately, a society that is operating under such system will not prosper.

Mort Shahmir

Bowling Green