My Rant of the Day

As anyone who has ever sold their house knows, clutter is a BIG no-no. Many years ago, before I had the pleasure of having children, my husband and I decided to sell our home. I started to box up all the extraneous tsotchkes that adorned our dressers, end tables, and windowsills. They were then consigned to the basement. When my husband came home from work that evening, he headed off to the bedroom to change.  He came rushing back out immediately, fear in his eyes.  “I think someone broke into the house, and stole our stuff!”  “Really?” I replied.  Noting that our TV, stereo, and checkbook were still in evidence. “What’s missing?” I asked.  “All my trophies are gone from the top of my dresser, every last one!” Ah yes, the notorious marble thieves, they must have gone after those precious pedestal bases, probably been casing the joint for weeks. No one stole them, I assured him. I boxed them up with all the other junk, and put them in the cellar. “Junk!” “They are not junk, I worked hard to get those trophies, you know they don’t just hand them out to anybody,” he fumed.  “I promise they will go back to their rightful place of honor, as soon as we have a signed contract” I assured him.

He had earned them. He was proud of them. They meant something.

That is not the case today.  My sons receive trophies for signing up. Their team could have come in dead last and they rode the bench the entire season, yet they still got a trophy! I have three boys. They all played on recreation teams (read; no tryouts), for a multitude of sports.  They started in pre-school, and continued through 8^th grade. They received a trophy every time! Anyone that saw all the trophies my sons have accumulated, would assume (incorrectly I might add) that they were fabulous multi-talented athletes. Just so you know we are paying for college, no Athletic scholarships coming out of this house! At last count the participation trophies had topped 100, and I fear more on the horizon. At the risk of sounding like an old kill-joy, I don’t think this is good thing.  Back in the days when we walked to school, five miles, in the rain, and uphill both ways, you only got a trophy if you excelled. When you didn’t get an award, it made you work that much harder. 

This theory of “we will not leave anyone out”, though well intentioned, creates an expectation of reward without work. This is creeping into our schools as well. Recently I attended the academic awards night at our local middle school. Approximately 75% of the grade received some form of honor recognition. Call my cynical, but that seems a tad unrealistic. I have to ponder the question, are they dummying down the curriculum, or is our district blessed with an unusually high number of brainiacs? At the risk of sounding redundant, back in my day, only about 10% or less received honors. It meant something.

So I will now descend from my soapbox.  I have more pressing things to attend to; like seeing if I finally have enough marble trophy bases to redo my powder room floor. It’s going to look great!