Parchments

... at LM's school, this time. He was so enormously worried he wouldn't get any (even though we got a note that he was getting an award, so we could make it for the ceremony) due to some clerical mistake, he got sick. 

I don't know how to solve this in my head. On one hand, I do think people should be recognized for doing a fine job of something. On the other, to have a kid get sick from stress over school awards makes ME sick, too.  So I don't know. I wish we all strove to always be/do our best, and got recognized in some meaningful way for a job well-done. What I hate is when the whole recognition thing gets made into caricature. I worked with/for a really obnoxious lady once. She divided the world into those that were "under" her and those that were "above" her. Nobody was  equal. The once "above" were perpetually kissed up to (terrible English, sorry); others were routinely verbally abused and mistreated. Despite her really awful behavior, she kept getting awards left and right. Drove me nuts; very demoralizing.

In Poland, when I was little, we got books for good grades at the end of the school year. Sends a powerful message, I think, about valuing literacy and what-not, while recognizing a job well-done. I still remember the titles of some of them.