To be a bit annoyed about school awards?

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

Dd1 is in 2nd year, going into 3rd. She is an intelligent and very hard working girl. She is one of the few in her class who always completes her homework. She has come top of most of her classes in exams, getting 100% in 4 subjects and high 90s in all others. They have just had their awards announced, for which there will be a ceremony. Dd hasn't won a single award, even in the subjects she got 100% in. The awards are for "effort" and "endeavour" and have been given to children who didn't do as well as dd in the subject. She is embarrassed and upset, as all her friends have won awards.
What is going on? We realise and have explained to her that it seems to be important today to try to encourage children who haven't done as well, despite working hard. But for 13yo dd, it feels like she has worked hard and done well, and it's not something to celebrate. Why are the school so afraid to give reward to children who are very capable and achieve good results? I'm not outraged or anything, I realise that her effort and achievements will eventually be their own reward, but I'm mildly miffed that her diligence and ability are to be ignored by the school. What message is the school sending to more able pupils? You don't count?

YANBU. My dd is very bright, well behaved and already I can see that she is often overlooked for particular things, perhaps this is due to her quieter nature. I do hate being so bothered by it though, I am a teacher myself so should really be able to see both sides.
I've personally always favoured (and experienced) a merit collecting system, given for effort, behaviour and attainment. The more merits you achieved in each area, the different level of certificate (e.g. bronze, silver, gold) Makes the 'ceremonies' a bit more tedious but at least every one is recognised for their own journey.
My dd is only 4 but already I'm irritated by Easter Bonnet results, learning journal contribution awards, deputy headteacher awards and so on. I may need counselling before sports day next week....

It's just lazy teaching. Your DD will perform without getting an award so they aren't going to waste it on her.

Then on the other hand teachers continuously moan about how overworked and underpaid they are. Yet they persist with shit like this.

Take their power away, have your own 'prizes' and celebrate achievement at home. You aren't going to change the system so make it meaningless for your child and bolster their self esteem in other ways.

In my experience, teachers seem to actively dislike children who try hard and do well. They are generally more keen on "evening out inequality" and "raising the achievements of the lesser able"

Sounds like the 'Labour party.

Yeah it's bullshit. When kids who always do well see the "naughty kids" getting rewarded and the "good kids" get ignored what kind of example is that setting? Actually, the kids who work hard all the time SHOULD be used as an example and rewarded. Whether that's the kids who achieve 100% or those who work hard but don't necessarily achieve as well, bad behaviour should not be rewarded over hard work. Being good for 5 minutes isn't enough to trump hard work all year

Our school has 3 types of prizes

Achievement - academic
Effort
Form prize - nice kid:contribution to school life

And then a one off Charity prize for special fund raiser- not necessarily highest amount raised either

What is a shame is that all year students are picked for sports teams and drama/music performances based on their ability and merit but then academic kids are not recognised for their ability or on merit.

Take her out for dinner to celebrate her hard work, school awards are just stupid. I never won any of the awards in secondary and to be frank, I don't care. But I imagine a 13 year old would.

From your perspective the more able kids are being made to feel invisible but at the other end of the spectrum other kids might be irked that it's always the bright kids get pushed more, stretched, they get more opportunities and so on. My middle set DD is always annoyed that the top sets and bottom sets are given extra support, booster lessons and rewards while those in the middle are not. She works hard, why shouldn't they also have the opportunities to be pushed and to do better.

Effort and attainment are not the same and your daughter's high test scores etc aren't necessarily relevant in determining whether she should receive awards for effort/ endeavour. I'm sure there are many students who put in as much, or more, effort than your daughter but didn't come out with such excellent grades. Academia comes more easily to some than others and it's not always a case of those with the best scores also having put in the most effort. Some students will put in their everything and still only come out with average at best scores.

I don't doubt that your daughter has worked very hard this year and of course in an ideal situation that would be recognised, but unfortunately not everybody can win an award. There are always going to be deserving children who miss out. On this occasion your daughter is one of them - I'm sure there are also many other children (with or without high grades) who put in a lot of effort but haven't been awarded. At least your daughter has been rewarded with good grades and has parents who support and celebrate her achievements - think how it must feel for the poor C student who has put in equal effort and worked equally hard but hasn't received an award or had that effort rewarded in his/her grades either.

In my experience, teachers seem to actively dislike children who try hard and do well. They are generally more keen on "evening out inequality" and "raising the achievements of the lesser able"

Don't forget "closing the attainment gap" which is much easier to do if you hold the more able kids back through not bothering to offer a demanding curriculum than just by pulling the less able up. It would all work beautifully, if it wasn't for those pesky world Pisa rankings that keeps putting all those other countries ahead of us
data.oecd.org/pisa/mathematics-performance-pisa.htm

When I was at school they also had awards for those who had done well in particular subjects, I remember getting an award for excellence in art.

I think it's great that they reward those children who try hard but will never be outstanding in any subject. However it's important it to forget hide who work hard and achieve excellence in subjects as well.

Sadly I have experienced this closure of the attainment gap. When dd was 7 and an avid reader her teacher at the time told me that it was important the others "catch up" and that I shouldn't let her "get ahead of herself" . I feel that, with the exception of a few really good teachers, the school system seems to find smarter children a nuisance. I do get that effort is every bit as important as achievement. I totally get that the old days when the same smart kids won all the prizes are gone, and thankfully so. But when it comes to other, non academic, subjects it seems it is fine for the same children to get the leading parts in every play, or be included in the sports teams every time while others are left out. I understand the move away from just celebrating achievement and nothing else, but has it gone a little too far the other way?

Rewarding effort is desirable, but its so hard for a teacher to know who is actually putting in effort.

One of my proudest moments at school was getting 1 for attainment (the best)( and E for effort (the lowest) in a couple of subjects. Yes, I was a bit of a shit.

Good post @Var1234

Awards are too many and often overrated in my view, and the important scores are GCSEs and A level at school. I can understand the feeling of unfairness, but perhaps some attempt to use it positively should be made. It is a lesson for life after all that it is not always fair and that great achievements are sometimes not recognised at the time.

We had so many awards at school that the ones i got were of so little value it was only this thread that reminded me of them.

i had to comment on this post because this is a running joke in our family. not one of my children has ever won a school prize for anything ever. not in infant, junior, senior or 6th form. we are a large family and you would have thought that at least one of them would have got something. but nope, nothing. not even "pet most like its owner" at the school fete.

I have always told my kids that what counts is the effort I see them put in and those bits of paper for gcses, a levels and their degrees.

we had to learn to make a joke out of it because I know how horrible it feels to work really hard to get the best grade only to see little jonny who behaves badly all year get a prize for sitting nicely during the school play.

I suppose I cant complain because they don't get order marks for bad behaviour either.

You could see this as a way to encourage your DD to take the (very) long view rather than fixate on school awards. Concentrate on developing her intrinsic motivation and inherent understanding of what she's studying and she will worry less about awards, grades and short-term rewards. It can actually be an advantage to have a more mature understanding of academic achievement when you're aiming for the very top - you'll understand things like how your grades may temporarily drop when you work on some new aspect of a subject, and how very often you learn more by trying something different and messing up than by always going for the sure thing.

Slight diversion but you get my point. No one cares how many effort prizes you got when you're at university.

I hated these things at school. I worked hard but wasn't outstanding so never got any awards for anything. The same people got them every year. Must admit I also find the urge and midwife my trust has demoralising for the same reason.

Oh bless her, that doesn't seem fair. Could you have a chat with the school about it?

Maybe you could take her out and/or buy her something as a special treat.

My DD's school is like this. It's a reward chart that starts afresh every day. If your name goes up 3 times they get an award certificate. My DD's goes up once or twice every day but she never gets anything. A few 'naughty' kids have their names moved down all the time but then they do something half good once and it shoots up to an award! We are getting a bit fed up with it now! Maybe I might say something too!

She hasn't gone from the bottom of her class to the top. If anything the teachers will think she's coasted as she's always done will so there hasn't actually been any improvement where there are some kids who may have actually improved.

Yanbu.

Just reiterate to her that she is the best, you don't need the school to tell you that. External validation like this is to encourage the weaker kids. She's bright she'll see that anyway. My dds at primary school we eye roll at the star of the week going to the little horrors who have managed not bite anyone that week.

What is a shame is that all year students are picked for sports teams and drama/music performances based on their ability and merit but then academic kids are not recognised for their ability or on merit.

Probably the biggest problem with the current school system. Same applies with secondary school. Those who pass the 11+ are ignored but those who get a place at a respected arts/music/dance school or some sports/football academy get lots of congratulation and glory.

Yanbu.

I get this with dd2's teacher. She was falling behind with reading, no fault of her own, teacher was off sick and the teaching was sporadic.

He approached us about this, fair enough, we sat her down and worked really hard to bring her back to speed.

He noticed, she didn't even get an award for putting the effort in. All because he was off sick and the classes were a shambles. She still isn't keen on reading

She's a good kid too, and does her homework, well behaved, gets on with the other kids.

My DS is 14 and I'm the same year. He's a high achiever but doesn't receive any rewards. Getting 100% and A grade papers is enough of a reward in its self. He will walk away from that school with top GCSE results through natural ability. He would rather the his friends who really had to work for their grades got recognition.

Thanks for all the replies. I really do agree that the awards are pretty meaningless, most of dd s friends find the awards they got really amusing as they beat no correlation to the subjects they actually worked hard in! They don't seem to be taken seriously by the kids at all. I guess it is another life lesson about self pride and not looking for accolades!