An annual test of knowledge pitting the area's brightest students against each other in a contest of knowledge and quick recall may be at an end, and political correctness could be part of the decision.
The N.C. State Library Commission, which has overseen the Public Library Quiz Bowl for many years, announced late last year that the program will be ending with the 20005-2006 competition. The board cites declining competition as its reason.
That's a shame. We're not reluctant to acknowledge our athletes. Why should we shrink from honoring students who perform well?
If you've attended a Quiz Bowl, you know that students who might be our next leaders compete against each other in general knowledge. Teams of students from Lenoir and Greene county high schools answer rapid-fire questions to see which school can capture the prize. Winners at the local level go on to participate in regional and state competitions.
This year's local competition will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Schechter Auditorium at the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library, 510 N. Queen St.
The Youth Services Advisory Committee of the state library made the recommendation to discontinue the quiz bowl. One reason listed at the very top of the rationale for discontinuing the bowl reads: "By its nature, the Quiz Bowl program is exclusive in that only a handful of students at each high school are chosen to participate."
Uh, yeah.
Only a handful of students are chosen for a high school's football, baseball or basketball team. The object is to select the best. A school can hardly expect to win a conference or state championship if just any student is allowed to play.
One must wonder if this is another attempt to protect the feelings of students who can't make the grade. Lessening a student's "self-esteem" must be prevented at all costs, modern education tell us. One child never should be made to feel inferior in any way to another child. This misguided educational principle has given us high school graduates who can't do simple math, can't speak the English language and can't read. It's questionable whether they'll be equipped to deal with failure in the real world since they never learned how to handle it in school.
We don't worry about self-esteem if a kid can't throw a football 25 yards or sink a free throw or catch a pop-up. He gets cut from the team. Why do we shy away from cutting a child from a team that relies on its members' knowledge and performance under pressure?
In fairness, the advisory board cites other perceived problems: Too many people, the board says, do not recognize the Quiz Bowl as a library program. (They think it's a school-sponsored event.) Schools don't live up to their end of the bargain by submitting questions. Library staff members have to pick up the slack. The summer reading program has greater participation.
Let's look at those objections. Is the most important goal to be recognized as the sponsor of the Quiz Bowl or is it to recognize excellence in our students? Yes, schools should pitch in more vigorously, but they don't. As for the summer reading program, anyone can read, especially when they have an entire summer ahead of them. That shouldn't be a big surprise to people who run the state library.
To the credit of the Kinston-Lenoir County Friends of the Library board members, the Quiz Bowl here is likely to continue without state oversight - at least, for next year. Of course, the winners probably won't go on to area and state competition, but they'll get recognition from the community.
Come out Saturday and watch the Quiz Bowl teams compete. Not only can you learn a lot, but you can walk away feeling proud of our high school kids. You'll see some of the best.
To learn more about the cancellation of the statewide Quiz Bowl, visit
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/ld/youth/QB/quizbowl.htm
Lee Raynor is editor of KinstonPress.com. She welcomes your comments at
editor@kinstonpress.com.
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