National Junior Honor Society - Does Character Count?
Geo
one can be found here:
What Does "Exam" Mean in Osceola County High Schools?
http://HarmonyFLcommons.com/exams.aspx
Part two of this series is a focus on the values imparted to our children in
Osceola County Middle Schools. The details are based on the personal
experiences of my sons.
My youngest son is currently enrolled at Narcoossee Middle School while his
older brother has moved on from Narcoossee to Gateway High School.
I have little doubt that the experiences of my sons at Narcoossee regarding
the inculcation of basic ethical values apply to other middle schools in
Osceola County as well. That said, I did not do an exhaustive study to
confirm this. However, based on feedback from the folks who run the Junior
Honor Society at the national level, it would appear that what is described
here is likely common throughout the country.
Before getting into the details, what this investigation is about can be
summarized in one word: expediency.
This is a continuation of a prominent theme from the article on high school
exams. In that case, teachers were handing out exam questions and answers to
students because, in my opinion, that was the expedient thing to do to help
kids pass their classes.
But what does "expediency" really mean? According to "American Heritage",
the definition I originally had in mind is obsolete:
speed; haste
One of the preferred definitions is now this:
adherence to self-serving means: an ambitious
politician, guided by expediency rather than principle.
Actually both of these definitions are appropriate in this case. This is
really all about the adoption of expedient shortcuts in lieu of fundamental
principles.
The teaching of ethical or moral values in our schools is a hot topic in our
society. It has been for a long time. This is one of the reasons why home
schooling is so popular these days.
As parents, we would like to think that our children's values are learned
exclusively at home. But we all know that this is really not the case. Our
children are exposed to many new ideas at school, from teachers as well as
from fellow students. They absorb values almost as if by osmosis, some good,
some not so good.
The values that we would all assume to be top-of-line are those fostered by
the National Junior Honor Society, especially when it comes to honor and
integrity. There would be little debate about that. But perhaps this
assumption is no longer valid. If so, what would that mean?
My son and several of his classmates were recently inducted into the
National Junior Honor Society. They were required to swear an oath to the
following principles among others (from the National Junior Honor Society
Handbook (see http://www.nhs.us ):
4.2.5 Character
NJHS is a member of the Character Counts!� Coalition
(www.charactercounts.org). Through this activity, the
Honor Society supports and recommends the use of a
multifaceted definition of character known as the Six
Pillars of Character.
A person of character demonstrates the following
qualities: trustworthiness, responsibility, and
citizenship. Schools are encouraged to take this model,
modify it to meet their local needs, and use it
frequently in the work of their chapter.
Chapters can consider the following descriptors as they
develop their local definition and standard for
character. This list is for consideration purposes only
and should not be thought of as a checklist for this
criterion. The student of character:
. Cooperates by complying with school regulations
concerning property, programs, office, halls, etc.
. Demonstrates the highest standards of honesty and
reliability
. Observes instructions and rules, is punctual, and
faithful both inside and outside the classroom
. Manifests truthfulness in acknowledging obedience to
rules, avoiding cheating in written work, and showing
an unwillingness to profit by the mistakes of others
Here are three pillars (of the Six Pillars of Character) that are relevant
to the discussion of honor and integrity:
Trustworthiness
Be honest � Don�t deceive, cheat, or steal � Be
reliable � do what you say you�ll do � Have the courage
to do the right thing � Build a good reputation � Be
loyal � stand by your family, friends, and country
Responsibility
Do what you are supposed to do � Plan ahead �
Persevere: keep on trying! � Always do your best � Use
self-control � Be self-disciplined � Think before you
act � consider the consequences � Be accountable for
your words, actions, and attitudes � Set a good example
for others
Citizenship
Do your share to make your school and community better
� Cooperate � Get involved in community affairs � Stay
informed; vote � Be a good neighbor � Obey laws and
rules � Respect authority � Protect the environment �
Volunteer
Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. The last item on the list
is "Volunteer" under the heading "Citizenship".
Members of the NJHS are required to volunteer a certain number of hours each
school year for community service. This means that these kids are expected
to donate some of their own personal time for the benefit of their
community. Typical volunteer efforts involve helping the elderly in
retirement homes, assisting with sundry tasks in hospitals or helping to
cleanup our local roadways. All of these activities require serious time,
effort and commitment on the part of NJHS members. Such activities are
intended to show these kids what it means to do something for others with no
expectation of receiving anything in return. Of course, the kids know that
they will receive credit for volunteer hours, but the principle remains.
I am sure that we have all heard of parents who do homework assignments for
their young students. But what about parents who contribute to their child's
volunteer commitments?
The NJHS at Narcoossee Middle School has for years permitted the expedient
substitution of food and other material donations (supplied by parents) in
lieu of valuable community service on the part of their children. For
example, if an NJHS student donated a food or drink item for this past New
Year's Dance party at Narcoossee, one free hour of community service was
credited to their volunteer log. In other words, a parent could pull bag of
chips or a bottle of coke from the pantry and that would be equated with an
hour of helping a person in need.
After my youngest son brought this to my attention, my memory was jogged. I
distinctly recall hearing something similar a few years ago from my middle
son and thinking how absurd it sounded. Yet I didn't do anything about it at
the time. But I did ask my middle son about it again recently.
A few years ago it was apparently a common practice to allow NJHS students
to donate money in lieu of doing community service hours. This meant that a
parent could pay perhaps $5 or $10 for charity so that their child could
avoid fulfilling an hour or more of service to the community.
Just to be sure that my memory wasn't failing me and that my middle son's
memory was still good on this point, my son asked a couple of friends what
they remembered (these friends were also NJHS members at the time). Here are
their responses:
"I do vagely [sic] remember the act back when we were
in NJHS. This, or course, didn't seem fair how one
would be able to receive hours for donating money to a
charity of any kind, compared to someone who actually
goes out to serve the community."
"I do recall you talking about [Mrs. B. - name removed]
saying that she would give community service hours to
those who brought in money during the 8th grade year.
I could be wrong, but to be more specific I think it
was money that would go towards building a well in a
third world country. If that's not the exact case,
then I still remember you bringing it up with me and
being quite offended about it. I agreed with you, for
it is quite obviously not community service if you can
simply buy your way through it; That's the exact
opposite. Donations to charity should be used to
supplement the community service, not instead of said
service."
Mrs. B. is the one teacher who has been most active with the NJHS chapter at
Narcoossee for years. When I asked her about the "charity money for service
hours" policy, a policy that I personally remember and one that my son and
his friends either remember outright or they recollect talking about years
ago, Mrs. B. denied having any memory of it. She didn't deny the policy, she
denied remembering it (repeatedly). Keep in mind that Mrs. B. has been
running the Narcoossee NJHS for as long as my children have been involved
(ie. at least 4 years). That is why her denials seem so odd, especially
since she never once was able state outright and categorically that such a
"charity money for service hours" policy never existed at Narcoossee during
her tenure with the NJHS.
When we ask our children to swear an oath to be trustworthy - be honest,
don't deceive, have the courage to do the right thing - should we not expect
the same from their teachers and their administrators? Should we not expect
the same from the folks running the National Junior Honor Society?
When I brought this matter to the attention of Michael Allen, Principal of
Narcoossee Middle School, he seemed rather defensive about it. He was
clearly not happy with my questioning Mrs. B. and he stated categorically
that he fully endorses the exchange of sundry items for volunteer service
hours. He completely ignored the "charity money for service hours" issue,
even though neither of these expediencies is defined within NJHS policy
documents at the national level. Mr. Allen concluded his response suggesting
that I should address any further questions to Deputy Superintendent Debra
Pace.
At the suggestion of the Associate Director of Honor Societies (NASSP in
Virginia), I asked Ms. Pace for a copy of the local NJHS bylaws maintained
by Narcoossee Middle. I wanted to see how the exchange of goods or money for
volunteer service hours is documented locally. The NJHS bylaws document was
emailed to me as an MS Word document. When I asked Ms. Pace who last edited
it, she responded:
Judith McDonald in May of 2010 (3.25 GPA to 3.5 GPA)
The above response makes sense, considering that Ms. McDonald was the
sponsor on record of the NJHS chapter at Narcoossee at the time. Ms. Pace
also informed me that the bylaws document that she forwarded to me was
scanned by a tech specialist at Narcoossee then sent to Mr. Allen who then
forwarded it to Ms. Pace who then forwarded it on to me.
Yet the fact of the matter is that contrary to what Ms. Pace wrote at first,
the bylaws document that I received was not scanned (again, it is a word
document). Also, Judith McDonald (who originally created the document) did
not edit it recently. In fact, the current NJHS sponsor at Narcoossee didn't
edit this document either. It was last edited by none other than the same
Mrs. B. who now says that she doesn�t remember Narcoossee's past policy of
permitting NJHS students to exchange money for community service hours.
After informing Ms. Pace of these irregularities over the phone she
clarified her previous response to me by acknowledging that the chain of
custody of the bylaws document was not technician to Mr. Allen to Ms. Pace
to me as she originally wrote, but rather it was actually from Mrs. B. to
Mr. Allen to Ms. Pace to me. This seemed very irregular indeed.
I happened to bump into Ms. Pace shortly thereafter during the recent Duke
Tip exam day (a Saturday). I tried to ask her again to explain why she
didn't know that Mrs. B. had last edited the bylaws document rather than the
current or previous sponsor of the NJHS at Narcoossee. Why wasn't this
document in the custody of the actual NJHS sponsor at Narcoossee? She
responded "no comment".
Perhaps the handling of the Narcoossee NJHS bylaws document was simply an
honest misunderstanding, I really don't know. But that coupled with the
discrepancy between Mrs. B.'s memory and the memories of four other people
on the "charity money for service hours" policy can only make one wonder.
Without regard to who created, edited or forwarded the Narcoossee NJHS
bylaws document, what I was really looking for was not found there. There is
no official written policy that permits NJHS members to substitute goods or
money for volunteer community service hours, or least not in the version of
the bylaws document that I received. Yet this policy of expediency is not
only condoned by Mrs. B., it is also condoned by Principal Allen, Deputy
Superintendent Pace and even the Associate Director of Honor Societies,
David Cordts.
So what message does this send our children? Here's what I believe they are
receiving:
Although I made a promise to do a certain amount of
charity work for my community, I can take a little
shortcut instead. I can ask my parents to help me
supply my school with goods for some school events
so that I can be relieved of some of my commitment.
In other words, it's OK to fudge your promises, even if just a little. No
one really cares.
Working our way up the "Pillars of Character" we see that these concepts
directly relate to the values of honor and integrity that we hope our
children aspire to. We are lead to "Trustworthiness" and "Responsibility".
Under these headings we have "Be honest", "Be reliable", "Have the courage
to do the right thing". We also have "Do what you are supposed to do", "Be
self-disciplined" and "Be accountable for your words, actions, and
attitudes".
These are all virtues of anyone with high values of honor and integrity. Yet
what do these words really mean? Are they just words? Or do they actually
mean something in the real world?
My youngest son is still a member of the National Junior Honor Society. So
he had the opportunity go on an NJHS trip to Washington, D.C. as his older
brother had done a few years ago. While there he would have visited many of
our nation's most historic sites, he would have learned much about our
nation's proud history by seeing its artifacts first hand. Then, after a
full day's activity, he would have returned to a D.C. hotel room shared with
three of his NJHS friends. My son told me these things. And then he told me
one more thing.
My son, who also happens to be the Vice President of his NJHS chapter at
Narcoossee, informed me that once he and his friends were settled into their
beds at night in our nation's capitol, Mrs. B. would then proceed to use
masking tape on the bedroom doors of my son, his friends and all of their
fellow NJHS kids in that hotel! That's right. These National Junior Honor
Society students, each and every one of them, will be subjected to having
their hotel room doors taped from the outside. The answer was obvious, but I
asked my son anyway. Why? He responded that this was the standard policy
adopted by Mrs. B. to detect the following morning if anyone had sneaked out
of their room the night before.
After picking my jaw up from the floor, I asked my older son if he
remembered this "door taping policy" when he went on the same trip a few
years back. Although he never mentioned it at the time, he did remember the
same policy was applied to him and his friends.
When I approached Mrs. B. about this a few days later after a school event,
she acknowledged that it is true. She also said that this "door taping
policy" has been in place for as long as she could remember and that the
principal was well aware of it.
I then met with Principal Michael Allen to verify that he is indeed in
complete agreement with the door taping policy. In his view, it is simply a
matter of safety.
So then I asked Deputy Superintendent Debra Pace. She responded that it was
up to Mr. Allen and Mrs. B.
Can none of these people see the irony of taping the doors of honor society
students for the purpose of tracking their movements at night? Can they not
see the extreme dishonor of what they are doing? Can they not see the
hypocritical message that they are sending to our young impressionable
children:
You kids have no honor and we don't trust you.
Once again we see that values and principles are sacrificed at the altar of
expediency. They tape doors rather than have enough chaperones in the rooms
or enough supervisors in the hallways.
To be clear, this is not about student safety, it is about saving money. How
does door tape keep a child safe? Does it prevent the child from leaving the
safety of the hotel room? No, it simply alerts adults of such an infraction
long after the fact. Does door tape prevent children from climbing out of
hotel windows? No, in fact it may motivate anyone who would be so inclined
to do just that, thereby imperiling their safety even more.
This is not about safety. It's about going through the motions of inducting
dozens of children into an honor society and then showing them plainly and
starkly that they have no honor and they are not to be trusted.
This is the epitome of hypocrisy, in my opinion.
My 12 year-old child seems to understand what these adults do not. So I
asked him what he would do instead of taping doors. After a little
reflection he responded that he along with each of his three roommates would
have to pledge an oath (not to the adults, but to each other) that they
would not leave the hotel room at night. If any one of them were to break
their oath, they would all suffer the consequences. This would mean that
they would each have to call home to have their parents come and get them,
at their parents' great expense and inconvenience. Naturally, the parents
would have to agree to this beforehand. This solution is simple, elegant and
honorable. Unlike the expedient way, this way serves a far greater purpose
than a piece of tape.
I also wrote about this matter to David Cordts, Associate Director of Honor
Societies (NASSP, National Association of Secondary School Principals). His
organization leads all of the primary and secondary honor societies
throughout the USA. This includes the National Junior Honor Society for
middle schools as well as the National Honor Society for high schools.
According to recent NASSP financial statements (plus information provided by
Mr. Cordts) there are approximately 7,000 middle schools and approximately
15,000 high schools paying a total of $8,577,067 in annual dues. These
annual dues plus sales of NJHS and NHS trademarked items and various other
revenue generating activities amounted to $20,775,970 collected in one year
by the NASSP. According to the same financial disclosures there were 16
people who earned more than $100,000 working for the NASSP. These "key
employees" earned a total of $1,737,038. All employees of the NASSP together
earned a grand total of $10,006,096, including pensions and health benefits.
This represents 48% of the total annual revenue of the NASSP. Out of all
expenses reported by the NASSP, only $570,000 (ie. 3%) was used for grants
to help others. The only other expense that might be considered of value to
those not employed by the NASSP is the $2,510,350 paid to hold conferences
for school principals. Thus the single largest expense of the NASSP is
employee salaries and benefits culminating with the annual compensation of
the executive director in the amount of $451,045.
Unbelievably, Mr. Cordts, like the folks running things in Osceola County,
also condones this door taping policy. He sees no irony in dishonoring honor
society kids either. Or if he does he is willing to overlook it. In fact, he
admitted to using door taping on kids that he has personally chaperoned in
the past. Feeling like Alice, I continued up the chain of command (like the
rabbit hole) with the hope of finally waking up.
My last appeal was directed at the Executive Director of the NASSP, Gerald
N. Tirozzi:
Dr. Tirozzi,
Thank you very much for confirming what David Cordts
wrote earlier. You have now both ignored the same
direct question posed:
"Is it the official position of the National Honor
Society or the National Junior Honor Society to condone
this door taping policy?"
Just to clarify, there are only two possible answers to
the above question:
1) No.
2) Yes.
You have both responded similarly:
The use of a single piece of tape placed on the
door of a student's room in a hotel is a fairly
common technique ... and when situations have
called for it, our staff members have used this
same practice in events we personally sponsor.
Therefore, I think that it is now safe for me to
reasonably conclude that #2 ("Yes.") is the official
NJHS answer to the above question.
When this subject gets written about in our local
newspaper I will reference this consistent policy
position from the both of you. Thank you very much for
your cooperation with this matter.
Sincerely,
George Schiro
Ps. The editor of our local paper has indicated that he
would like me to write the op ed piece on this subject.
I may have questions related to the financial
relationship between NJHS member schools and the NJHS.
I will contact Mr. Cordts at the appropriate time as
you suggested.
To answer your question, my son's school is Narcoossee
Middle located in St. Cloud, Florida.
Dr. Tirozzi responded:
Mr Schiro,
Let me clarify, our official position is NO!!
While Dr. Tirozzi offered one last response claiming that the NJHS really
has no policy on door taping (see "Tirozzi Emails.txt" below), that claim
contradicts everything he and Mr. Cordts wrote earlier.
When asked by a parent, the official position of the NJHS seemed to be that
the door taping policy is condoned. But when asked by someone writing a
newspaper article, the official position of the NJHS became: door taping is
not condoned. Either way we have fundamental inconsistencies between the
values that the NJHS purports to convey to our children and the values
actually put into practice by those running the honor societies from the top
down.
I can't help but wonder about the real purpose of the National Honor
Society. Why does it exist if not to actually help instill our children with
the values it advocates?
How can we expect our children to understand the values of honor and
integrity by the real-life examples arrayed before them? They are told to
make a promise, yet when the time comes to fulfill that promise they see
that exceptions can be made. Our children are told they have earned a place
of honor among their peers, yet in the real world they are treated with
dishonor and distrust.
What choices will these same middle school students make when they get to
college years from now? Will they value the hard work and commitment
necessary to succeed as adults in college and beyond or will they take the
expedient shortcuts that lead them to shame and dishonor?