The New York Times published an interesting article today about high school honor societies that posed a central question: how much is too much? One thing that caught my attention, of course, was explicit mention of Sigma Tau Delta's daughter organization the National English Honor Society. If high school students have accustomed themselves to graduating with six, eight, or even nine honor society honor cords, they will certainly feel the same pressure to participate in as many societies as possible in college.
The NYT article questioned how many of these societies were as active as they should be and how many were simply "place-holders" or "credentials." I know that we strive to be an active chapter that provides meaningful activities and experiences for students; but these students appear to be increasingly over scheduled, as do many of the faculty involved as well.
My personal resolution for this coming year is to keep myself sane and appropriately scheduled, but that doesn't mean that I want to give up any activities or responsibilities. The obvious answer, then, is to make all of these things work together toward a set of common goals. I'm certain that this is a common resolution among students and faculty at The College of New Jersey.
With that in mind, the Alpha Epsilon Alpha chapter of Sigma Tau Delta and the Office of Academic Affairs will sponsor a leadership workshop for honor society leaders Monday, January 18, 2010. Our goal for this workshop is to help students to develop organizational strategies so that they may find opportunities to work together, to work smarter rather than harder, and to effect lasting change in our institution through partnerships and skillful planning. So STD students, send your friends in other organizations to the registration site so that we can all start working toward the goals we share.
And Happy New Year to all of you!
Dr. Felicia Jean Steele
Personally I was involved in...9 honors organizations in some way or another in high school? I had 5 cords? Or some oddly high number. I'll be lucky in college to graduate with two.
ReplyDeleteHigh school does a very poor job of actually forcing students to perform honors activities and usually encourages them to skirt by with the bare minimum. I was the National Honor Society Historian in High School and did the absolute bare minimum at all times. And was applauded.
In college I've had to change my ways and focus my energy to keep my sanity and my pride... in college I actually am an honor society member.
This was an interesting article to write about, especially for those of us going into high schools for teaching!