The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-07-03
Prizes in School.

As the minds of some of our people
have of late been egitateG in regard to
awarding prizes in school, We deem this
an auspicious season to allude to this
subject and to express our unqualified
I opposition to the policy Of stimulating
the efforts of boys and girls in this way.
We believe that the majority of the peo-
! pie ofthis community coincide with us IN
our opinion in regard to it, but we know,
| too, that there are some who hold a differ
entopinion. The latter class have the iudg-
ment of very many experienced eduea~
tors in regard to this question to sustain
them in their position. They are also
| ready to assert that it is the practice of
some of the oldest and best established
| schools in the Union to award prizes to
the meritorious. This Is, however, no
argument that, all things considered. that
it is the true policy to pursue in our
| schools We have been present at the
awarding of prizes for diliger study and
| commendable department in some of the
best schools in the South, and while we
recollect few instances in which the
parties honored in the latter particular
were considered clearly entitled to the
distinction, we cannot now recall SIM
gle instance in which there was not dis,
satisfaction and heart-burnings in regard
to the bestowal of the prizes for feats in
defamation or superiority in scholar
ship, as shown by public examination.
We have thought ourselves, without any
kind o f partially, that in many cases
the prizes were not awarded to the most
deserving, and still we did not like to
question the honesty Of those who made
the decisions. We can recall few in
stances where large majority of the
audience on public occasions differed
widely from those who had been selected
to decide between the contestants. Now
all these things engender strife among
students where the best feeling should
be cultivated. They not unfrequently
cause parents and teachers to take such
action as will result in the disruption
of good school and the whole eommu>
nifty is thereby damaged. 1t seems to be
an inherent principle for us to think that
our children can cope with their fellows
in any laudable work Of the school
room, and it is only upon the coolest re,
Election that We are able to see that this
cannot be so. "Our Johnny or our
Mary Ann is as smart as any body" is
the sentiment that takes hold of us when
we are not aware of it, and it is rather
hard to shake off
Can we not encourage our boys and
girls to acts of diligence and propriety
by other means than the awarding to
them of gold medals or other prizes-ess
pecially as we have now seen that this
plan brings about an estrangement be-
tween pupils and teachers, creates strife
in school, and displeases parents And
since we have observed these things and
know how they work, we repeat, that it
is no argument in their favor to say that
the best schools in the land follow the
practice, for we are prepared to assert
that even there the same results follow
that we see in our own schools
Another serious objection to giving
prizes is, that only few in every school
ever contend for the prizes and we have
had occasion to observe that this indif-
ference on the part of the larger number
is an actual damage to the school, be-
cause it invariably destroys that general
spirit of emulation which should pervade
the whole schoole and for which the in
telligent teacher labors. Our citizens
ought in the future to discourage the
giving Of prizes in school, for the res-
sons cited and many others that we
need not mention.