Except when run by Hudson Falls Public Library Director Marie Gandron .
HUDSON FALLS — Tyler Weaver calls himself “the king of the reading club” at Hudson Falls Public Library. But now it seems Hudson Falls Public Library Director Marie Gandron wants to end his reign and have him dethroned.
The 9-year-old boy, who will be starting fifth grade next month, won the six-week-long “Dig into Reading” event by completing 63 books from June 24 to Aug. 3, averaging more than 10 a week.
He has consistently been the top reader since kindergarten, devouring a total of 373 books over the five contests, according to his mother, Katie.It sounds like the kid is a first class book worm. Good for him. He did what they asked and won. All was fine and dandy until the claws came out:
“I’ve told them God makes all of us different. There are some things that are hard and some that are easy, but they should excel at what they enjoy doing and Tyler just loves to read,” she said. “Everybody he tells, he gets high-fives. Everybody’s so proud of him.”
Everybody, it seems, but Gandron, who was surprised to learn Katie notified a Post-Star reporter about her son being a longtime winner. During a phone call Tuesday to Gandron, the library director said Tyler “hogs” the contest every year and he should “step aside.”
“Other kids quit because they can’t keep up,” Gandron said.
Gandron further told the reporter she planned to change the rules of the contest so that instead of giving prizes to the children who read the most books, she would draw names out of a hat and declare winners that way. She said she can’t now because Katie has come forward to the newspaper.Awe isn't that horrible. She can't gyp the winner out of his book worm glory because now everyone knows that she wanted to rig the system.
I know there are more pressing injustices in the world and more fitting examples of female imparities run amok. I'm unlikely to be given the opportunity to fix any of those situations, so I'll root for the little victories as I find them.
It's the same philosophy behind giving each child a "participation trophy" in team sports, even if they weren't the top team. This removes any incentive to improve, as they're already getting a trophy.
ReplyDeleteI'd also wager that many of the other program participants don't have as much time to read because they're involved in other activities too, like Little League. Their parents want them to win at everything instead of focusing on one thing they really like to do and doing that well -- kind of like the Weaver boys, it seems.
If the library goes to a random draw, it will have the same effect as participation trophies, and the total book count among all participants will drop radically since they will mostly stop after reaching the minimum. As it is now, the other kids already have the same opportunity to win -- read more books!
When I was a kid I tried every sport. Then I learned that you can buy trophies. Now I'm great at everything!
ReplyDeleteBack in my banker days my bank was awarding a sizeable scholarship to a graduating senior of the local PS. We debated whom to award this scholarship to because we had 2 very good candidates. I was sent to the graduation to make the award and was shocked that "very important" award ahead of my banks in the ceremony was the teachers giving each kid a candy bar for a job well done.
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