I am rendered almost speechless by the June 8 letter regarding the alleged “unfairness” of the Vashon Community Scholarship Foundation awards process — almost. Like the writer, I too had a senior in the Vashon High School Class of 2003. Unlike the writer (I would guess), I have been at every single VCSF awards ceremony since, with the exception of 2004, and I have sat and listened to each scholarship awards ceremony from start to end.
Unlike the writer, again and again I have heard the acknowledgement of accomplishment, perseverance and sometimes extreme effort put forward by Vashon High School graduating seniors who did more than just show up to school for four years.
In the majority of cases, not only did these seniors go to school and perform academically, and sometimes very well academically, they also worked outside jobs, did volunteer work, traveled worldwide and participated in school sports, music, drama or other school clubs, all while being successful students.
Apparently this sort of accomplishment is meaningless to the writer. In her world, all students should be spun in some mindless blender of “fairness” and rendered into a bland, homogenized mass of “equality” where even the most lethargic slacker is rendered “equal” to the valedictorian, the varsity sport athlete, the musician, the artist, the thespian, the humanitarian.
We hope that our graduating seniors are growing up, are learning responsibility, are learning to make good choices and are learning that there will be a positive reward for their sometimes-heroic efforts.
Teaching our seniors that they can get by with exerting zero effort and then be rewarded for it all in the name of “fairness” — as the writer would apparently like — is not the message that I want our children to receive.
It is most certainly not the message that I have heard, again and again over the course of eight years attendance at Vashon Community Scholarship Foundation award ceremonies, and I am very, very glad for this.
