Is That Fair?

In high school we had a boy, he was the Kapa Haka leader, spoke perfect English and Maori, captain of the basketball team, first fifteen rugby player, top in all his subjects every year, speech competitions winner, tutored junior students, lead role in the school musical, regional rep, sung the anthem for All Blacks matches, volunteered in the special needs unit and was a general do-gooder awesome representation of our school.

He won several awards from the council for his achievements, not to mention the awards he won through school and other avenues.

Come the end of my 7th form year (his 6th) we had to vote for prefects and head students, one would assume with a school resume like his he'd be a shoe in for head boy.

End of year prizegiving I was sitting with his and my families, the principal was announcing the prefects and head students. He didn't even make a prefect spot. The disappointment on his and his families faces was obvious.

The next day I mentioned how suprised I was to my friend who was the Head Girl for our year level, she then told me how she was there when they were selecting the head students and someone mentioned that he had a 1 year old son who lived with him, his partner and his family. Instant removal from the running.

Is that fair?

Not responsible enough to wear a condom?

I don't know, that was my first response but in reality it's a bit more tough than that because that's assuming all teen pregnancies are unplanned. Perhaps they were thinking from a different line, as in should we be giving this young man any more responsibilities in fear of overwhelming him?

No, but then again life isn't fair. Small things can end careers, especially in environments where a person is a role model to others. I suppose we can effectively say teenage pregnancies get you no where in life

ChelseaT wrote:Not responsible enough to wear a condom?

I don't know, that was my first response but in reality it's a bit more tough than that because that's assuming all teen pregnancies are unplanned. Perhaps they were thinking from a different line, as in should we be giving this young man any more responsibilities in fear of overwhelming him?

Despite him having coped with a huge load of school responsiblity for a year after his son was born?

I think they saw him as a poor role model due to one bad decision (followed by a series of great decisions).

Hmmm Can see both sides to this and yet on his side of it he owned up to his responsibilities as a dad and still continued to acheive highly at school, if say it had been that he had assaulted or harmed in some way then i would agree with not promoting him.

Personally, I think it is very unfair! Takes me back to the days when you were kicked out of school if you were pregnant. TBH, if I was his family, I'd take it to the Media!

He decided to start Uni a year earlier than he had planned. He's now a teacher with definite potential for more awesome in his future.

All to the schools loss though.

Waireka wrote:In high school we had a boy, he was the Kapa Haka leader, spoke perfect English and Maori, captain of the basketball team, first fifteen rugby player, top in all his subjects every year, speech competitions winner, tutored junior students, lead role in the school musical, regional rep, sung the anthem for All Blacks matches, volunteered in the special needs unit and was a general do-gooder awesome representation of our school.

He won several awards from the council for his achievements, not to mention the awards he won through school and other avenues.

Come the end of my 7th form year (his 6th) we had to vote for prefects and head students, one would assume with a school resume like his he'd be a shoe in for head boy.

End of year prizegiving I was sitting with his and my families, the principal was announcing the prefects and head students. He didn't even make a prefect spot. The disappointment on his and his families faces was obvious.

The next day I mentioned how suprised I was to my friend who was the Head Girl for our year level, she then told me how she was there when they were selecting the head students and someone mentioned that he had a 1 year old son who lived with him, his partner and his family. Instant removal from the running.

Is that fair?

and how do ya know tht was the real reason?:
the girl could have been mistaken on many levels...she was a 17yr old girl. it could have come from a good place ie the guy didnt have time for extra responsibilities when he had a young family.

but at the end of the dya shit happens and ya just gotta suck it up and do your best with your lot.