(June 3, 2003) — Clark Magnet Department Awards, distributed at the end of the school year, are given to those students who “stand out” from the rest of their peers. But for those who have not yet come to receive one of these belittling awards, the plaques, recognition and wasted sheets of marbled paper don’t seem at all necessary. It’s exceptionally hard to distinguish the most creative writer out of all the English classes or which genius mathematician in the entire mathematics department deserves recognition. Are the teachers to nominate the student with the most passion for the subject, the over-achiever or the naturally talented, eloquent individual? Some teachers here at Clark admitted that the process is purely subjective. Students have different styles of writing, unique in their own way, just as they have different methods of solving problem number fourteen on the geometry homework. It’s unfair to put already excelling students in yet another unapproachable group, with their egos as far up as their IQ on the charts. The awards limit a student’s sense of individualism. With enough intense competition already going on in the quaint classrooms of Clark, students are overloaded with the morning mantra they recite as they get out of bed that they must live to please everyone around them, leaving just about no time to please the morals they once had. Don’t get me wrong— it’s great that we recognize individuals. Hard work and sleepless nights throughout the year shouldn’t go unnoticed, but it has gotten to a point where it’s dividing the school into more and more different groups. No, I’m not a jealous student who thrives each day to get recognized. I’m not trying to put down those who continuously receive awards around this time of the year. I’m not discriminating against teachers for their ways of voting or teaching. These Department Awards are meaningless. They confine students’ measures to nothing. It’s biased to hand out awards like this and pretend the teachers really looked over each and every student’s achievements and abilities to determine the perfect student because there’s supposedly a few out there.