ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 13, 1996 TAG: 9604160006
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIANN-SHIN CHEN
ESTHER W. Johnson (April 6 letter to the editor, "The ballyhoo for Blacksburg school was misleading") raised several valid issues and provided a realistic perspective pertaining to the financial aspect of the National Merit Scholar status. At the same time, she also skewed the picture and managed to disregard the feelings of the National Merit Scholar finalists from Blacksburg High School.
In her unnecessarily harsh criticism of Lisa Applegate's article (March 25: "9 out of 12 Merit Scholars ain't bad"), Johnson at times sounded frustrated by the attention (not credit) that was given to Blacksburg High School. Some of Johnson's remarks can actually discourage area students from striving for excellence. Because her letter also contained errors that can mislead the public, it's important to set the record straight.
Blacksburg High School this year has nine finalists, not just semifinalists, in the competition for the National Merit Scholarship awards. (This misrepresentation originates from an error in Applegate's article.) It's true that National Merit Scholar finalists do not all receive a financial reward. In fact, more than 85 percent of them will not receive one of the 2,000 single-payment National Merit $2,000 scholarships, but it doesn't alter the merit-scholar status as recognized by all universities. Out of about 6,900 scholarship awards for this year's 14,000 finalists, 4,900 are sponsored by corporations for (in most cases) the children of their employees or by some universities for finalists who choose to attend these institutions. Therefore, the chances for a National Merit Scholar to receive a scholarship award through the program are indeed small.
These statistics may sound discouraging to younger students who are still trying to qualify as National Merit Scholars. I advise them to continue to do their best to win this honor. Being a student from Southwest Virginia has some real disadvantages in competing nationally to get into the most prestigious universities. Students here lack the opportunities to enter some of the better-known academic competitions, participate in high-profile service activities and use paid professional assistance in packaging their college applications, which are available to students in many other localities. The status of being a National Merit-Scholar finalist is one of few precious distinctions that are within reach of area students so they can distinguish themselves to catch a moment's attention from the admissions committee of a choice university, and it may open a door for them.
One major issue raised by Johnson is what or who "produces" National Merit Scholars. It should be remembered that Applegate's article was intended to recognize the effort of these students, and to highlight a worthy goal for motivated students in Southwest Virginia to reach for. Her comparison of the Blacksburg school with two other schools illustrates the unusualness of this year's record (and that's why it's newsworthy).
Johnson tries very hard to downplay the role that the high school plays in these students' success, which seems defensive and self-serving. On the other hand, she overemphasizes the family's influence. It's obvious that neither the high school nor the family alone can be responsible for the number of finalists we see here this year. Otherwise, Blacksburg High should have the same degree of success every year.
Applegate's upbeat article recognized the individual effort of the finalists, and that's exactly how it should be. The attention that was given to the high school is appropriate. We should notice that the finalists gratefully acknowledged their appreciation of several inspiring high-school teachers, and Applegate faithfully reported the students' feelings. I believe the students will agree that some of their kindergarten, elementary- and middle-school teachers are equally deserving of their appreciation. They just didn't get to say it.
It's important to remember that the effort and the perseverance of these finalists should receive the foremost recognition. Parents, teachers and schools welcome flowery compliments because of the achievements of their children or students, and they're entitled to do so. The utmost compliment, however, should be reserved for the students.
The size of the student body isn't always proportional to the size of the faculty of universities. Virginia Tech has an undergraduate enrollment roughly twice that of the University of Virginia. But the number of full-time faculty members is 1,466 and 1,596, respectively, for Tech and UVa, according to a 1996 publication by U.S. News & World Report. Therefore, one doesn't "expect to see twice the number of professors' bright children" in Blacksburg than in Charlottesville, unless the birth rate is unusually high in rural Blacksburg.
Jiann-Shin Chen is a professor at Virginia Tech and the father of a National Merit Scholar finalist.
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