Honors Creep Excessive?

How many valedictorians does it take to change a light bulb?

Who cares? The better question is how many light bulbs will burn out during the valedictory addresses before high schools realize they’ve become too liberal in awarding the academic honor.

While some schools this graduation season have stuck with the tradition of naming one top senior as valedictorian, several others now share it among all graduates with 4.0 grade-point averages.

Several Spokane-area high schools listed more than a dozen valedictorians.

“These students have worked hard for four years to achieve a 4.0 and they should all be recognized,” said a spokeswoman for Spokane School District 81.

Merely being acknowledged for straight A’s throughout high school isn’t recognition?

Is this another case of watering down a traditional honor lest singling out one recipient might cause disappointment and hurt feelings among others?

If that’s not it, what is wrong with letting a single exemplary graduate deliver the class’s farewell address?

Before airbags there were oat bags

Buckling up is “the biggest societal change in this century,” according to seatbelt advocate Linda Galer of the Safety Restraint Coalition in Seattle.

Hard to argue with that, since what few automobiles were around at the beginning of this century had no seat belts.

Nevertheless, The Traffic Safety Commission says 1,600 Washingtonians are alive thanks to buckling up. Washington state drivers are the third most obedient in the nation for complying with mandatory restraint laws, according to the commission.

Does that mean those indignant residents who used to protest the seat belt requirement have changed their minds? Or do they merely think it’s futile to continue the argument?

Mercy for a mass killer?

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have urged that Timothy McVeigh not be executed for the Oklahoma City bombing. No surprise. The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has long been on record as opposed to almost all capital punishment.

Their stand is based on the broader moral issue, not solely on McVeigh, who has been found guilty of causing the blast that killed 168 people. Considering McVeigh is the guy whose fate a federal jury in Denver is deciding, can anyone else muster a case for lenience?

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