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lorimtI owe the National Honor Society, at least from my hometown, an unrant. I'd been pretty vehement about how bad and scary I thought it was. My reasons were more or less that what I heard of the induction ceremony disturbed me, and I thought that the overall structure had major flaws. One of my friends who didn't have great grades wanted to be involved for the service aspects, but couldn't get in due to grades. While I do still have some reservations, I do think that the organization serves a useful purpose and certainly doesn't merit my earlier rants against it. As such, I figure LJ is a decent place to unrant.
The reason I've changed my mind is that my brother was inducted this year, and I actually saw the induction this time. The purpose became more clear to me. The goal is to honor students who have good grades, leadership abilities and who help their community. These are all good things, and encouraging people to do all, not just one of them, is a good thing. I still think that the arrangement is less than ideal, as one gets invited based on grades, accepted based on recommendations about leadership ability from teachers, and continue to stay in by doing service projects. If the goal is to encourage all three, then all three should be involved in each step of the process. But that is not a inherent fault, so much as something which could be improved. The other thing which had alarmed me was the pledge, which students are required to recite. I had read it hastily in a poor frame of mind, and got an entirely inaccurate impression of it. It is a list of, for the most part, wonderful and honorable ideals and goals as to how one should live one's life. (To quote a few "seek the light of truth" "give of myself freely in worthy service to others" and "to hold as fundamental and worthy an untarnished character" I may not interpret them exactly as most people would, but they all seem worthy goals for one's life. Perhaps a bit over-dramatic, and the "I pledge myself always to" at the top still bothers me a bit, as it is difficult to honestly pledge to do something at all times)
Anyhow, I'd still like it if the service part were more publicly open to non-NHS members, though they are always welcome, as there are many who might volunteer if it weren't such a NHS thing. All in all, the group does good work, and in retrospect, I am very glad to have been a member.
The reason I've changed my mind is that my brother was inducted this year, and I actually saw the induction this time. The purpose became more clear to me. The goal is to honor students who have good grades, leadership abilities and who help their community. These are all good things, and encouraging people to do all, not just one of them, is a good thing. I still think that the arrangement is less than ideal, as one gets invited based on grades, accepted based on recommendations about leadership ability from teachers, and continue to stay in by doing service projects. If the goal is to encourage all three, then all three should be involved in each step of the process. But that is not a inherent fault, so much as something which could be improved. The other thing which had alarmed me was the pledge, which students are required to recite. I had read it hastily in a poor frame of mind, and got an entirely inaccurate impression of it. It is a list of, for the most part, wonderful and honorable ideals and goals as to how one should live one's life. (To quote a few "seek the light of truth" "give of myself freely in worthy service to others" and "to hold as fundamental and worthy an untarnished character" I may not interpret them exactly as most people would, but they all seem worthy goals for one's life. Perhaps a bit over-dramatic, and the "I pledge myself always to" at the top still bothers me a bit, as it is difficult to honestly pledge to do something at all times)
Anyhow, I'd still like it if the service part were more publicly open to non-NHS members, though they are always welcome, as there are many who might volunteer if it weren't such a NHS thing. All in all, the group does good work, and in retrospect, I am very glad to have been a member.
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Date: 2003-01-23 12:24 am (UTC)So maybe your NHS doesn't even have the thing where people buy service hours for $20 apiece (for "fundraising"). It's kind of reassuring to know that NHS is not necessarily that corrupt.
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Date: 2003-01-23 04:29 pm (UTC)At my school there's a club called something along the lines of SERV, which stands for something I can't remember right now. Started by some NHS prep/jock (who ended up at Harvard, I think), it's open to all students, and the whole point is to organize volunteer oportunities for NHS folks, IHS folks, and others who need/want community service hours. So a whole bunch of friends can all go clean parks or dish up soup together. Anyhoo, I've never been a part of it, since the folks in it are entirely the wrong circle for me, although a lot of my friends are in NHS and pay attention to the service opps given thru SERV. Oh, I also try to avoid being at school, and that means no 7:00 a.m. NHS meetings, and no 3:30 SERV meetings (and, unfortunately, no good clubs either, like the Gay/Straight Alliance, which I was in freshman and sophomore years). On the other hand, I was never _invited_ to NHS, in spite of my 4.0; given the numbers of 4.0s at my school, I think NHS is one of those things for people who _know_ about it--the upper-middle class kid with college educated parents who has a much better chance of going on to a good school, etc., in life, simply because of knowledge of the ropes (and yet, I am such a kid, but I still didn't do NHS).