Play to Win

            The Virginian-Pilot reported last Thursday that the Virginia Beach School Board voted 7-3 to end class rankings as well as the tradition of having class valedictorians. The article said the board decision was in reaction to claims by students that the system is unfair. Really. It seems to me that the real reason is that the board does not want under-performing students to feel bad about being singled out for…under-performing. What utter nonsense.

            What exactly is the message these misguided board members are delivering to students? That it’s bad to excel? That it’s OK to fail? That excellence must not be recognized because it might stigmatize mediocrity and inflict irreparable harm to the brittle nature of illiterates?

            This kind of non-judgmental attitude has become pervasive in our society. I have a grandson who was not very good at sports. Not only was he not very good, the basketball and soccer teams he played on were awful. I never saw them win a single game. Yet, he received a “Participation” trophy at the end of the season. For what? For gamely suffering through “the agony of defeat”? He no doubt would have been embraced by the Virginia Beach School Board and assured he wasn’t a loser, that playing was just as important as winning. That winners don’t deserve a reward for winning. That there are no winners and losers, only participants.

            Eliminating class rankings is analogous to participation trophies. It says to students that results don’t count. Well, sorry, folks. There’s a whole world out there that looks for the best and the brightest, a world that rewards high achievers, a world with winners and losers. Not everybody can win. But everybody should play to win. The surest way to lose is to deny that there is such a thing as a winner.