Is this okay?

[kenny]

The War on Merit Takes a Bizarre Turn

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission...

www.city-journal.org

The War on Merit Takes a Bizarre Turn​

Why are administrators at a top-ranked public high school hiding National Merit awards from students and families?

Asra Q. Nomani
December 21, 2022

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has emerged amid the school district’s new strategyof “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.” School administrators, for instance, have implemented an “equitable grading” policythat eliminates zeros, gives students a grade of 50 percent just for showing up, and assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned in. It’s a race to the bottom.

An intrepid Thomas Jefferson parent, Shawna Yashar, a lawyer, uncovered the withholding of National Merit awards. Since starting as a freshman at the school in September 2019, her son, who is part Arab American, studied statistical analysis, literature reviews, and college-level science late into the night. This workload was necessary to keep him up to speed with the advanced studies at TJ, which U.S. News & World Report ranks as America’s top school.

Last fall, along with about 1.5 million U.S. high school juniors, the Yashar teen took the PSAT, which determines whether a student qualifies as a prestigious National Merit scholar. When it came time to submit his college applications this fall, he didn’t have a National Merit honor to report—but it wasn’t because he hadn’t earned the award. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation, a nonprofit based in Evanston, Illinois, had recognized him as a Commended Student in the top 3 percent nationwide—one of about 50,000 students earning that distinction. Principals usually celebrate National Merit scholars with special breakfasts, award ceremonies, YouTube videos, press releases, and social media announcements.

But not at TJ. School officials had decided to withhold announcement of the award. Indeed, it turns out that the principal, Ann Bonitatibus, and the director of student services, Brandon Kosatka, have been withholding this information from families and the public for years, affecting the lives of at least 1,200 students over the principal’s tenure of five years. Recognition by National Merit opens the door to millions of dollars in college scholarships and 800 Special Scholarships from corporate sponsors.

I learned—two years after the fact—that National Merit had recognized my son, a graduate of TJ’s Class of 2021, as a Commended Student in a September 10, 2020, letter that National Merit sent to Bonitatibus. But the principal, who lobbied that fall to nix the school’s merit-based admission test to increase “diversity,” never told us about it. Parents from earlier years told me that she also didn’t tell them about any Commended Student awards. One former student said he learned he had won the award through a random email from the school to a school-district email account that students rarely check; the principal neither told his parents nor made a public announcement.

On September 16 of this year, National Merit sent a letter to Bonitatibus listing 240 students recognized as Commended Students or Semi-Finalists. The letter included these words in bold type: “Please present the letters of commendation as soon as possible since it is the students’ only notification.”

National Merit hadn’t included enough stamps on the package, but nevertheless it got to Bonitatibus by mid-October—before the October 31 deadline for early acceptance to select colleges. In an email, Bonitatibus told Yashar that she had signed the certificates “within 48 hours.” But homeroom teachers didn’t distribute the awards until Monday, November 14, after the early-application deadlines had passed. Teachers dropped the certificates unceremoniously on students’ desks.

“Keeping these certificates from students is theft by the state,” says Yashar. Bonitatibus didn’t notify parents or the public. What’s more, it could be a civil rights violation, says local parent advocate Debra Tisler, with most TJ students in a protected class of “gifted” students, most of them racial minorities, many with disabilities, and most coming from immigrant families whose parents speak English as a second language. “It’s just cruel,” says Tisler.

In a call with Yashar, Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award. A National Merit spokeswoman said that the organization’s officials “leave this honor exclusively to the high school officials” to announce. Kosatka and Bonitatibus didn’t respond to requests for comment. In a rare admission, Fabio Zuluaga, an assistant superintendent at Fairfax County Public Schools, told me that the school system has erred not telling students, the public, and families about awards: “It was a mistake to be honest.” Zuluaga said it also isn’t enough just to hand over a certificate. “We have to do something special,” he said. “A commendation sends a very strong message to the kid, right? Your work is meaningful. If you work hard in life, there are good benefits from that.”

On Monday, December 12, after getting caught, Kosatka sent an email to the parents of Commended Students, notifying them of the “important recognition” and saying, “We are deeply sorry” for not sharing the news earlier. He claimed school officials would contact college admissions offices to correct the record.

Bonitatibus still hasn’t publicly recognized the students or told parents from earlier years that their students won the awards. And she hasn’t yet delivered the missing certificates. The war on merit is a war on our kids.

 

[PreRaphaelite]

I'd be screaming bl00dy murd3r if this happened to me (or my kid if I'd had one). IMO this is not okay. Curious what others think.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

Nope, not at all okay. Denying to acknowledge achievement because of potential hurt feelings is doing all students a serious disservice. Why do we feel the need to shield adolescents from disappointment? How will they ever cope in the real world?

No, it wasn’t a mistake, this was an intentional and deliberate scheme and the principal should be held accountable

 

[pearlsngems]

Wow, horrible!!

 

[MissGotRocks]

Dumbing things down - or hiding facts deliberately - does nothing for anyone in my opinion. While I understand wanting success for all students, it still has to be earned. The push to give credit where it is not due or easing of requirements for students is just not a good societal goal. Just my two cents.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

Absolutely not. It's detrimental on it's face and absurdly dishonest. How demoralizing for those students who put forth the effort. What does this denial gain? They are fully entitled to the honors they achieved.
That's how it works.

 

[Matata]

I got so angry reading that I couldn't finish the article. Withholding those awards from those who achieve greater academic results so other students don't feel bad discriminates against those who achieve higher than others and establishes a fake reality for all the students. At the very least publish a list in the school paper or on a bulletin board, no need for the school to host special meals or ceremonies which, imo, is a bit overkill. Are parents actually raising kids that are so insecure and emotionally weak that they can't handle the idea that there are people smarter than they are?

 

[nala]

And yet, there is a push among the most prestigious universities to discontinue standardized testing by not making SAT’s or ACT’s a requirement bc what do standardized tests scores prove?
In high school, my scores sucked bc I was poor and went to an underperforming school and spent 30 hours a week working to pay bills.
Got to UCI and made dean’s honor roll. Resilience is what used to matter. These National Merit awards are based on what universities deem outdated or biased tests. Not mad.
Just saying. Those kids probably had the best grades and were conditioned to succeed despite these scores—personal statements, extracurriculars, etc. You aren’t a national merit scholar winner without a lot of parent involvement and support. I bet those kids turned out fine.

My daughter went to the number one school in the nation—at the time—a pseudo charter school—and they refused to rank the kids. I was kind of pissed at first but realized, who cares. She only has to compete against herself. She and all her peers turned out fine.

Let’s face it. Some of us here could never survive and excel in the culture our kids do. Social media. Phones. Distractions. Self-esteem. Like. The fact that these kiddos grow up to be compassionate liberals and still run the world—accepting diversity, gender fluid lifestyles, survive a pandemic, Trump, Biden—wtf stick to antiquated measures of “intelligence?”

 

[yssie]

TJ is in NOVA. I know a fair number of people who went there.

It’s not… A normal school. Even amongst the ranks of STEM, etc. It’s the sort of school parents send their primary age kids to private tutoring to prep for.

That bit about large minority attendance in the article - it’s not wrong, but it’s also not exactly a fairly-spirited portrayal either. It’s majority Asian. White is second, far far behind. Race is a hot button topic - to improve diversity outside of Asian.

This is, from everything I understand, the sort of school where unfortunately the majority of parents are “tiger guardians” who bulldoze their kids into academic prowess at the expense of all else. Where student depression is through the roof. And by all accounts it’s only gotten worse over the last several years.

Are parents actually raising kids that are so insecure and emotionally weak that they can't handle the idea that there are people smarter than they are?

What happens when a kid isn’t trying his or her best out of personal motivation, but mostly to please a parent? And when that sort of parental pressure is so ubiquitous it’s actually the norm?

In this particular and very peculiar Petri dish of an environment… I can actually see the principal’s point, though I wouldn’t agree with the implementation: Rewarding academic achievement is akin to rewarding a disproportionately large number of parents for pushing their kids as far as they can and d*mn all else. The freshman workload that’s described - that’s not normal, that’s not healthy, that’s not laudable, but I absolutely believe it to be that child’s reality.

TJ has a massive problem. It’s common workplace conversation around here. Most of my coworkers chose/plan to choose to not send their kids there. To answer the thread question - no, it’s not okay! But at the same time this article glosses over quite a bit of relevant nuance.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I got so angry reading that I couldn't finish the article. Withholding those awards from those who achieve greater academic results so other students don't feel bad discriminates against those who achieve higher than others and establishes a fake reality for all the students. At the very least publish a list in the school paper or on a bulletin board, no need for the school to host special meals or ceremonies which, imo, is a bit overkill. Are parents actually raising kids that are so insecure and emotionally weak that they can't handle the idea that there are people smarter than they are?

thats how i felt
its disgusting
and those school adminstors should be sacked

 

[kenny]

Reduced odds of admission to the best Universities means lower future earnings.

Since equality of feelings is so important to the lovely leaders of this school, their salaries should be quietly reduced to that of the school's lowest-paid employee.

Equaaaaaaality, ya know!

 

[yssie]

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the utter ridiculousness of giving any credence to PSAT scores?

PSAT. Preliminary SAT. Not even the actual SAT. Which, as @nala pointed out, many institutions are actively moving away from.

School is in the wrong here. But at the same time the whole thing is just so dang stupid.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

That's an extremely fair point about pressure cooker environments and unequal wealth based disadvantage.
I think I knee jerked a bit. It isn't really applicable here.
My children's district isn't super elite or having the advantage of highest per student expenditure, and I was automatically looking at it through the lens of my own children who excel in spite of this being denied the achievement.


* Me, having a 'This isn't about you, Becky' moment.

 

[missy]

Not OK at all IMO

Ann Bonitatibus should be replaced

 

[missy]

Reduced odds of admission to the best Universities means lower future earnings.

Since equality of feelings is so important to the lovely leaders of this school, their salaries should be quietly reduced to that of the school's lowest-paid employee.

Equaaaaaaality, ya know!

Agree with this. Let's see how they like it

Equal outcomes do not make things right
It's providing equal opportunities to all

 

[Lookinagain]

No, it's not okay. I understand many colleges are moving away from standardized tests, but they all haven't done it yet. And acceptance and scholarship money is affected by the National Merit designation. If kids are losing scholarships that they need because they can't claim to be a commended student, that is really not okay. Some may have gone to a school they could more easily afford, sure. But others may have gone into deep debt to pay for a school where they may have been selected for a scholarship with that additional note on their application. Who knows. I don't agree with kids being pushed to the brink by their parents to be super achievers. Not at all. I also don't agree with the "everybody gets a trophy" mind set. The reason given that they didn't want the other kids who didn't get the honor to feel bad, is not a good one. As mentioned by others, kids need to learn that they can't always win. That's just life. There is always someone stronger, smarter, prettier, richer, etc. than you.

 

[adlgel]

I know that parents/student pay for the SAT but I forget, do the parents/student pay for the opportunity to take the PSAT? If the parents/student pay for it, it's even more egregious in my opinion that this type of notification is being withheld from the student. Particularly when the school hasn't been upfront about their plan for handling PSAT results.

It would be one thing if as part of the admissions process students/parents are told about their philosophy on standardized testing so that as consumers they can make a decision about whether that affects their interest in attending that school. But doesn't sound like that was the case here.

I absolutely acknowledge @yssie comments on the uniqueness of this particular school environment and agree that there are schools where students feel way to much pressure to take ridiculously rigorous course loads which is absolutely detrimental to their mental health.