Celebrating academic success is one area that unfortunately is often overlooked in public education. Walk into any school in the state and you will undoubtedly see cases of trophies proudly on display to showcase athletic success. Granted, some schools do have academic awards displayed somewhere in their schools, but they generally are overshadowed by athletics. Also, you will never see 3,000 people show up to cheer on a quiz bowl team yet, it is standard practice for the football team.
One blog post from the U.S. Department of Education highlights 2011 graduates who received the Presidential Scholarship Award. This award is open to applicants throughout the United States and is one of the highest honors a student can receive. I believe that awards like this should be more publicly celebrated. Further, academic awards should become more numerous in order to inspire more students to pursue them. Students push themselves to unbelievable levels in order to earn top honors in sports, but few really drive themselves to reach the top levels of academia. This is most unfortunate due to the fact that most of them will never earn a dime from their athletic skills. Their brains however will be a necessary tool regardless of the field they pursue.
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