Oh, I see: cut her slack because she is slightly less uneducated/stupid than most uneducated/stupid present day students?
Yes indeed; do not hold her accountable for her inarticulate, uninformed answer to a simple question posed during a SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST, AKA meat-pageant. This was not some pop-question, man-on-the-street/Jay-Walking ambush.
Still, I guess it is eeeevil, mean-spirited, cruel (AND unusual) to expect accountability and performance, if it means bruising her unearned and seeminly unjustified self esteem.
I have taught so many teens. Think about yourself at her age. Imagine yourself confronted by cameras and THE question.
I don’t really care about the question or the answer. I do, however, care about the overreaction to the answer. It has been an over-reaction. Give the kid a break- and she is a kid.
Yes indeed; do not hold her accountable for her inarticulate, uninformed answer to a simple question posed during a SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST, AKA meat-pageant.
This isn't a flame, but it's obvious you know little about most scholarship pageants. The irony is your stereotypical characterization of pageants and the girls who participate parrots what I've heard from liberals.
She may not have performed well, but she had to do well earlier or she wouldn't have gotten that far. The kids in most of these pageants are anything but bubbleheaded. They are outstanding young women, most with good to great grades, numerous activities and community service, and considerable poise.
The kid may have overprepared and locked up (common). She's probably practiced with dozens of potential questions (there are books devoted to this subject). As she walks up to take the question, there's the pressure of the lights, audience, other contestants, and most of all, the judges. She's simultaneously worried about the way she carries herself, walking on heels, in a gown, that she makes eye contact correctly with the judges, and is focused on smiling and showing confidence without fear no matter how much she feels.
If she answers well, all that can be said is she hasn't eliminated herself and may advance if others falter. If she screws up, it's over. All the work, all the effort is done. She can try again next year, but she starts from scratch.
There's a tendency to laugh at a pageant contestant flubbing an answer, but it's more difficult than a rehearsed performance. It's more like the pressure any athlete feels when all of the focus is on him or her. It's the field goal kicker lining up for the potential game winner with time expiring. It's the cornerback exposed one-on-one with a bigger, faster, receiver. It's a goalie facing a penalty kick (or the forward about to take it). It's the pitcher up by a run on a 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the tying run on third and winning run on second (or the batter facing him).
And yet, the athlete is far better prepared and faces fewer unknowns than the pageant contestant. The baseball analogy may be the best, if you can imagine being the batter facing a pitcher with an unlimited number of pitches, most of which you've never seen or imagined. Oh, and the batter is also given style points based on how he stands, swings, etc.
If you think this is easy, just look at the professional politicians at the highest levels, schooled in the art of debate, briefed by experts, prepared by the best and brightest in their field. How many of them screw up in a debate? How many answer a question poorly, blow their body language, look at watches, etc.?
The amazing thing isn't that this kid screwed up, it's that more do not. The kids who do well in scholarship pageants, prepare themselves for a host of difficult situations. Job interviews, for example, are a snap compared to this.
If it sounds a little personal with me, it is. My daughter decided to compete in pageants (and does quite well). One of the people who influenced her is the music minister at our church who covered part of her college tuition through scholarship pageants.
Scholarship pageants are most certainly not meat pageants. My daughter, for example, is a star athlete, NHS, student council, active in church, spends spring breaks doing mission work (labor type mission work), drama student of the year, winner of her school's outstanding student award, and five time finalist in one of the area's top piano competitions. She's an unbelievable kid. And yet, in the pageants, every kid is unbelievable.
Of course, you don't know any of this, but you know they're meat pageants?
/rant