Oops! Cancel That Cancellation

The following story hit the news Monday.

School cancels honors event due to ‘exclusive nature’

A Rhode Island middle school is canceling its long-running “Honors Night” event for exceptional students, because school officials are afraid its “exclusive nature” will make others feel left out.

In a letter sent to parents, Principal Alexis Meyer and Assistant Principal Dan Seger of Archie R. Cole Junior High School in East Greenwich claim that “members of the school community have long expressed concerns related to the exclusive nature of Honors Night...”

They go on to say that the school will recognize students during “team-based recognition ceremonies and graduation.”

“This will afford us the opportunity to celebrate the individual and collective successes of all students and their effort, progress, and excellence,” they said.

Ah, yes, the 'collective.' Sounds like something straight out of Marx.

Collectivism is the idea that the individual’s life belongs not to him but to the group or society of which he is merely a part, that he has no rights, and that he must sacrifice his values and goals for the group’s “greater good.”

By doing so, we minimize individual effort and accomplishment. Even 8th graders understand that simple concept.

Some parents are afraid the change will discourage kids from working harder to try and make the honor list, the station reported.

“How else are they suppose to learn coping skills, not just based on success, but relative failure?” asked parent Joe Kosloski.

His daughter Kaitlyn didn’t make the cut to attend the event last year.

“That made me wanna work harder and a lot of other people work harder..." she told ABC.

There's a young lady who gets it, and who will go far in this world (at least, if the liberals running her public school don't screw her up).

The school sent the letter out to parents over the weekend.

On Monday the SHTF. Reaction was widespread, loud, and negative.

On Tuesday the school had second thoughts.

School reverses course after canceling honors night for being too 'exclusive'

A Rhode Island school district that had come under criticism for canceling a night for honors students over concerns that the event would be too “exclusive” is reversing its stance.

"We have decided to honor excellence as we had planned ... at a traditional evening event," said the statement, which was posted on the school's website.

There was more CYA verbiage, but that was the gist of the announcement. An obviously embarrassed East Greenwich Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Victor Mercurio did not return calls Tuesday.

That's one small victory for individualism over collectivism. If we can string a few more of them together we might get back to the vision of the Founding Fathers.

The politics of individualism is essentially what the American Founders had in mind when they created the United States ... a land of liberty, a society in which the government does only one thing and does it well—protects the rights of all individuals equally...

Contrast that with collectivism.

“liberalism was built around the idea—the philosophical principle—that citizens should be called upon to look beyond their own self-interest and work for a greater common interest.”

The problem, of course, is who defines the 'common good.' Do we leave it up to people like the East Greenwich school board, who fear the 'exclusive nature' of individual achievement?

Or, God forbid, liberals and progressives like barack obama, who believe they know what is best for everyone else?