Everyone has seen those bumper stickers that read, “I’m proud of my Honor Student at the neighborhood school.” My question is, are they a good idea?

Part of me feels like it is fantastic that we are celebrating academic achievement. It’s about time that schoolwork is held with the same esteem as school sports. I’m also glad that not everyone gets a bumper sticker. Schools used to put too much focus on enhancing self-esteem. Teachers were encouraged to praise students for doing next nothing. I think its great that our praise of students is genuine and well deserved.

One of my problems with the bumper stickers is the recipient. When I received school awards, they had my name on them. The certificates went up in my room, not on my parent’s car. My hard work was my achievement, not my parents. (However if I ever received a math or science award, I should have given it to my dad.)

Now I work with the remedial readers, and I know that it is doubtful that any of them will ever achieve honor student status. However, if they work hard enough they will become grade level or above readers. Unfortunately there is not a bumper sticker that says, “My kid refused to give up, and is now able to meet the state requirements.”

My final concern with honor student bumper stickers is that many people tend to equate “honor students” with “good kids.” Many honor students are wonderful children, but academic excellence is not the same as virtue. I know this because many of my special education students, who struggle in school, have the virtues of a good work ethic, kindness, and compassion.

Too often I hear people tell me, “I don’t know how you work with those kids.” As if there is something morally wrong with me and my students. If you think I am being too sensitive, imagine that I told people that I work students who are from an ethnic minority. No one, with the smallest trace of manners, would dare say, “I don’t know how you work with black or Hispanic kids.” But it is still okay to question someone for working in special education.

Now I need to carefully step down off of my soapbox, and return to the topic of the bumper stickers. I would like to see more bumper stickers that express parental pride in children, because they are simply their children. I would like to see teachers continue to acknowledge hard work and academic achievement, and I would like to see students take more pride in their successes.