Educational achievement was first and foremost based on pride. If you scored high on a test, it was your duty to boast about it. Moreover, the whole hanging the report card on the fridge thing was a definite staple of the times, suggesting that not only were parents raising kids but also fine tuning academic geniuses in the making. Unfortunately, it left a bad taste in other’s mouths, separating those kids that did well from those kids who couldn’t do as well!
In essence, education back then wasn’t about personal achievement; it was about perfection. Hence the bumper sticker, “My Child is an Honor Roll Student at [insert school name].” See how it alienates many other kids? Like putting one kid on a pedestal and calling him or her God, basically.
The response to that mindset both in the classroom and in the home was a sudden rage to revamp the educational system. It was too structured. Those kids that always hit the honor roll were simply manipulating the system, and other kids were forced behind for many reasons: such as race, religion, gender, even physical attributes. School was a very harsh place to be.
That would explain the bumper sticker to arise some time after the original: “My Kid Beat Up Your Honor Student!” Nice little slap in the face, wouldn’t you say? And probably well deserved.
Unfortunately, many, many kids these days are falling by the wayside, getting into drugs, alcohol, state penitentiaries. Losing the structure in education has caused an influx of kids exploding at the seams with such things as ADHD, OCD, and even bed-wetting. Teachers have lost their nerve, their ability to delegate.
We come to the state of now when every parent, every teacher, every administrator says in a loud voice: “No More Crap.” Skip the stupid honor rolls, separating student from student; tighten up on the bad apples, too. Make it about personal achievement, people. Children are supposed to be unique!
And that would explain the future bumper sticker, (insert title of this article).