Photo courtesy of MasterandMorePics/ Flickr
The grandeur and exclusivity of National Honor Society has always stunned me, as seemingly around the globe it is the pinnacle of academic success and extracurricular responsibility. High schoolers set on achievement, scramble to turn in their applications, groom their grades, and pray for acceptance. The club itself is regarded with honor, and is treated more highly than other school clubs. With all due respect, it does uphold reputable values and its select students do dutifully deserve its title, but having witnessed NHS at work personally in my own school, I’ve come to doubt the fairness of its pedestal and crown. Why is it such a big deal? Here’s what I think.
National Honor Society is an organisation established to recognise high school students for their outstanding performance in academic, extracurricular and social settings. In order to be qualified for application, students usually must have a GPA of 3.0, 3.5 or 4.0, and are usually accepted with good teacher recommendation. Generally, Only sophomores and older are allowed to apply, and of course, not all applicants are selected.
The undiscussed discrepancy between the content of National Honor Society and its prestigious title, especially in comparison with other organisations and clubs, is beyond me. At my school in Shanghai, China, National Honor Society is responsible for its annual Anonymous Kindness Week and Relay for Life, a charity event for fundraising and walking for cancer research. It seems to hardly differ in activities from other clubs that also do community service, and yet it is regarded so highly. Membership is rewarded with a badge and honorable mention on graduation day here, but from what I see it is all just a club. The pillars of character, scholarship, leadership and service are unlabelled but found in any other organisation – orphanage clubs, debate clubs, Student Council, and more.
In a Daily Mail article published last year, a Plano Senior High student was not permitted to wear his white satin for NHS at graduation, because administrators wished to be fair to other student organisations and thus adhered to their long-standing rule of no additional regalia. This was met with discontent from the student and his mother, who found him unjustly rejected from the recognition of his hard work.
In reality the argument on National Honor Society boils down to whether it functions as highly as it is perceived and treated. Perhaps in the United States it does demand high standard work, and a great amount of it. However, at academically competitive schools like mine, I see NHS as just an empty title. Students may not be applying for the activities they are passionate about doing, enticed by the name and honour of NHS. In the scramble for shiny badges on college apps to be the ever most outstanding student, it may be that students lose sight of what they personally value and love doing.
I believe secondary education is about pursuing your personal interests, whether that be through chosen classes or extracurriculars. In a time of stress and sleepless nights, students sticking to what they love doing is most important, and guiding them so that they discover their passions is part of the process that higher education should encourage. By spotlighting NHS as an elite society club, we seem to be perpetuating the pressure of academic excellence for the sake of college acceptance, for looking good on the application, and not for personal pleasure.
Of course, this is just my opinion.
Many choices are made during high school – the colleges you want to apply to, the courses you want to take, the clubs and sports you want to be a part of, the people you want to be friends with. In making these decisions, you gain and you lose. I respect those who have made it into NHS and are able to access opportunities to enhance leadership and collaboration skills. I also respect those who did not make it, and had the resilience to carry on and realize other ambitions true to their passions. I finally respect those who chose not to apply, for resisting the peer pressure to be the universal “best” and being their own, personal best. I believe that even without the honour label, any organisation or sport or activity that is dedicated time and commitment to, is equally worthy of reward and respect.
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