Last night, when I was contemplating on what I wrote during a previous job entry, I hit upon this weird idea: why not give a special award for students who have shown the most positive improvement in academic and extra-curricular performance for the school year?
Then it hit me how absurd some claims are regarding this whole award-giving practice prevalent in schools. One such claim is that awards are there to bolster the whole student body to work harder in class. Such an assumption actually follows what seems to be a logical process. First, a top-notch student gets an award for an achievement. He is formally awarded in front of his peers and on the stage.
This moment, I believe, is the most crucial function of the award. That's because the awardee is exposed to the supposed "adulation" and applause of his peers, reinforcing the awardee's desire to strive harder in his studies or in whatever he is doing. It also has a second function, that is, it also inculcates and stimulates the same desire to do better among the awardee's peers or among his batch mates, such that the entire student body is motivated to work harder in the hope that, one day, they will be the ones who will climb up the stage and receive the same recognition as the awardee.
I'm not quite sure if I got it right on the motivation part (I'm not a Psychology major after all) but I'm pretty sure I have the process covered. And I also know that there must be a flaw to this whole common sense approach on the rationale for having an awarding ceremony. That's because one factor that is usually overlooked is the perception of most of the students. To put it simply, most students don't identify themselves with the awardee on the stage and, with this, the whole logical process described earlier falls apart. In this case then, any awarding ceremony is futile when it comes to trying to fulfill the second function.
This leads me to my proposal. Aha! Why not initiate a Most Improved Student Award in schools today (a.k.a the MIS-award)? The main criterion for the award is already written above and the technicalities will simply have to be sorted out per school.
But why would this award be considered a necessity when schools right now are already handing out a lot of awards to their students every year? One way to answer this is by looking at the demographics of those students who are often the recipients of these awards. Other than varsity players, most of these recipients come from the elite group of the batch. In my experience in High School, majority of the awards go to the students of the honor's class. The problem is students in the general sections don't identify with the honor's class. Hence, they are not motivated to pursue the same awards as fervently as the honor's class students do.
Enter the MIS-award. As the name suggests, the recipients of this award will usually come from the greater majority of students who are struggling in their studies. These recipients are students who may not be at the top of their batch but have shown a significant improvement in their academic standing. These recipients are most likely problem students who, thanks probably to the guidance and support of their class moderators and classmates, have "heroically" changed for the better over the course of a school year. Don't these kids deserve an award too?
Basically, the MIS-award solves the identification dilemma because most students would identify with this awardee, who is very much a part of their demographic: a student who is not as gifted in terms of intellectual acumen but has nevertheless been able to achieve a personal landmark, whether it be passing all subjects for the first time or simply making sure he or she doesn't receive an axe for a grade. Chances are, the student body as a whole would be more motivated to study harder because of this exemplary performance as compared to, say, someone who won the National Quiz Bee or who won a national leadership award.
So there it is. I've ran out of steam but before I end this, let me clarify that I'm not saying that adding this award in the recognition ceremony will make a big difference. I don't have research to back this up. But I do believe this proposal can help.
Then it hit me how absurd some claims are regarding this whole award-giving practice prevalent in schools. One such claim is that awards are there to bolster the whole student body to work harder in class. Such an assumption actually follows what seems to be a logical process. First, a top-notch student gets an award for an achievement. He is formally awarded in front of his peers and on the stage.
This moment, I believe, is the most crucial function of the award. That's because the awardee is exposed to the supposed "adulation" and applause of his peers, reinforcing the awardee's desire to strive harder in his studies or in whatever he is doing. It also has a second function, that is, it also inculcates and stimulates the same desire to do better among the awardee's peers or among his batch mates, such that the entire student body is motivated to work harder in the hope that, one day, they will be the ones who will climb up the stage and receive the same recognition as the awardee.
I'm not quite sure if I got it right on the motivation part (I'm not a Psychology major after all) but I'm pretty sure I have the process covered. And I also know that there must be a flaw to this whole common sense approach on the rationale for having an awarding ceremony. That's because one factor that is usually overlooked is the perception of most of the students. To put it simply, most students don't identify themselves with the awardee on the stage and, with this, the whole logical process described earlier falls apart. In this case then, any awarding ceremony is futile when it comes to trying to fulfill the second function.
This leads me to my proposal. Aha! Why not initiate a Most Improved Student Award in schools today (a.k.a the MIS-award)? The main criterion for the award is already written above and the technicalities will simply have to be sorted out per school.
But why would this award be considered a necessity when schools right now are already handing out a lot of awards to their students every year? One way to answer this is by looking at the demographics of those students who are often the recipients of these awards. Other than varsity players, most of these recipients come from the elite group of the batch. In my experience in High School, majority of the awards go to the students of the honor's class. The problem is students in the general sections don't identify with the honor's class. Hence, they are not motivated to pursue the same awards as fervently as the honor's class students do.
Enter the MIS-award. As the name suggests, the recipients of this award will usually come from the greater majority of students who are struggling in their studies. These recipients are students who may not be at the top of their batch but have shown a significant improvement in their academic standing. These recipients are most likely problem students who, thanks probably to the guidance and support of their class moderators and classmates, have "heroically" changed for the better over the course of a school year. Don't these kids deserve an award too?
Basically, the MIS-award solves the identification dilemma because most students would identify with this awardee, who is very much a part of their demographic: a student who is not as gifted in terms of intellectual acumen but has nevertheless been able to achieve a personal landmark, whether it be passing all subjects for the first time or simply making sure he or she doesn't receive an axe for a grade. Chances are, the student body as a whole would be more motivated to study harder because of this exemplary performance as compared to, say, someone who won the National Quiz Bee or who won a national leadership award.
So there it is. I've ran out of steam but before I end this, let me clarify that I'm not saying that adding this award in the recognition ceremony will make a big difference. I don't have research to back this up. But I do believe this proposal can help.
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