Compassionate Conservatism Meets Harrison Bergeron

A school district in Rhode Island canceled its annual spelling bee this year because administrators decided the crowning of only one winner violates the main principle of the federal No Child Left Behind Act – that all children should succeed....

"It's about one kid winning, several making it to the top and leaving all others behind," Newman said of the competition, which culminates with the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C....

A spelling bee, she continued, is about "some kids being winners, some kids being losers," which "sends a message that this isn't an all-kids movement."

Especially embarassing when the "some kids" who can spell happen to be mostly home-schooled, and thus have managed being dumbed-down by the human resources processing factories.

She argues that professional organizations now encourage elementary school children to participate in activities that avoid winners and losers, which is why sports teams have been eliminated for that age group.

So when do you plan to eliminate grading, genius?

Since then, the decision has been reversed:

John Tindall-Gibson, superintendent of schools in Lincoln, R.I., told the Woonsocket Call newspaper his job is to make sure schools aren't dull and dreary places.

And to handle the shovel and mop work when a previous ass-brained decision makes him and his colleagues look like a bunch of incompetent nitwits.