[soah]

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I think the incidents of downplaying competitivenes in American schools may be exaggerated (although I have no data or evidence for this opinion).

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I think you're quite wrong about this. When I was in high school (which was not very long ago) there was actually an effort made to eliminate all honors and advanced placement classes on the premise that all of the students were equally intelligent. Supposedly the disparity in results was entirely due to self-esteem and the higher-quality instruction that some students received in their honors courses. It "wasn't fair" that some students were singled out for special treatment (even though each student had the option to sign up for whichever course they wanted).

I recall at one sporting event where an announcement was made which began: "At the conclusion of the match, the non-winner will...."

Grade inflation is very real as well. C is most certainly not average, a C is bad. The honor roll is such a joke that they'd be better off eliminating it -- to not make the list is actually pretty embarrassing since nearly everyone makes it.