Sadly, many students "collect" honor society status to pad their resumes. An honor society requires commitment, so the proliferation of many on campus dilutes each one's meaning and encourages our students to do less than their best for each one.
I have served as a school sponsor for our local chapter of the National Beta Club and have reservations about the process of selection and promotion. Selection criteria is established by the local chapter, in theory not a bad idea. However, since the national office promotes district and state conventions with "officer" elections, it is in the interest of the most competitive clubs to admit the most members in order to have a larger electorate at conventions, thereby increasing the chances of electing your school's candidates. There is an up side here. Some of the competitons are very beneficial to students (art, various subjects, etc.) However, when about 50% of a class is admitted to the honor society the "honor" is seriously diluted. Of greatest concern however is the profit motive of these "non-profit" organizations. If you do the numbers on national "dues", sales of graduation stoles, and registration fees at state conventions, it looks like someone is making a bundle on this Honor Club.
At our high school, NHS was a joke. I have a brother who was a nearly straight A student who did not get in to NHS because of a teacher who blackballed him. This particular teacher was a poor teacher, and was offended by my brother, who could pass his classes while sleeping, literally. I was younger, and passed up my chance at being in NHS because I knew that if I got in after he hadn't, it was a meaningless honor. (By the way, my brother is now a worldwide respected pediatric neurosurgeon who has performed several surgeries that you have probably read about.)
Like many things, lack of consistency has the potential to cheapen the recognition. This is not limited to honor societies. Look at grading scales. We spend too much time looking to a prize and not the process and the productivity of the end product.
I don't see why standards for a specific honor society would be lower or higher - that depends on the administration. But I do see why excellence in any specialty honor society - say drama, or writing, or Chinese language, should be recgnized in a way that has meaning for the student and be evaluated in other institutions.
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Sadly, many students
Sadly, many students "collect" honor society status to pad their resumes. An honor society requires commitment, so the proliferation of many on campus dilutes each one's meaning and encourages our students to do less than their best for each one.
I have served as a school
I have served as a school sponsor for our local chapter of the National Beta Club and have reservations about the process of selection and promotion. Selection criteria is established by the local chapter, in theory not a bad idea. However, since the national office promotes district and state conventions with "officer" elections, it is in the interest of the most competitive clubs to admit the most members in order to have a larger electorate at conventions, thereby increasing the chances of electing your school's candidates. There is an up side here. Some of the competitons are very beneficial to students (art, various subjects, etc.) However, when about 50% of a class is admitted to the honor society the "honor" is seriously diluted. Of greatest concern however is the profit motive of these "non-profit" organizations. If you do the numbers on national "dues", sales of graduation stoles, and registration fees at state conventions, it looks like someone is making a bundle on this Honor Club.
At our high school, NHS was a
At our high school, NHS was a joke. I have a brother who was a nearly straight A student who did not get in to NHS because of a teacher who blackballed him. This particular teacher was a poor teacher, and was offended by my brother, who could pass his classes while sleeping, literally. I was younger, and passed up my chance at being in NHS because I knew that if I got in after he hadn't, it was a meaningless honor. (By the way, my brother is now a worldwide respected pediatric neurosurgeon who has performed several surgeries that you have probably read about.)
Like many things, lack of
Like many things, lack of consistency has the potential to cheapen the recognition. This is not limited to honor societies. Look at grading scales. We spend too much time looking to a prize and not the process and the productivity of the end product.
I don't see why standards for a specific honor society would be lower or higher - that depends on the administration. But I do see why excellence in any specialty honor society - say drama, or writing, or Chinese language, should be recgnized in a way that has meaning for the student and be evaluated in other institutions.
We must be careful not to dilute the meaning of having to work for something, i.e. a place in the National Honor Society.