Gold stars are a conspiracy. Oh, you can try to brush it off, claiming that, after all, they're only stickers. But they're not just "only stickers." They are labels. For every "good child" who gets a gold star, there are thousands of "bad children" who do not get gold stars. Tell me, tell me truthfully, which comes first, the "good child" or the "gold star?" Is a child only good because he gets a gold star? Does a gold star make a child good? Is a child simply "a problem" unless he has a gold star? This method of gold stars is dangerously subjective.

Okay, enough of the mock "seriousness"--I actually have a bit of a point to make on this area. Sorta. See, my mom is involved with the elementary schools to some extent, and she's a little disgusted with the pop psychologist junk that a child must be rewarded for everything. "Oh, you read a page! Good for you! Have a sticker!" "Oh, you read all month! You get a pizza party!" I mean, that's all very well and good, but what about the kids who LIKE to read? My brother (and I'm kinda the same way) reads all the time, but who wants to LOG their reading time? Really. Suppose I want to sit down for ten minutes and read, oh, Fellowship of the Ring while I wait for a certain television program. I don't want to write that down! By the time you realize that, "Oh, I have to log this time," put down the book, walk over to the refrigerator, write down your starting time, what book you're reading, the author, etc, etc, you've either completely lost interest or your program has started. Of course, this is probably a bit moot for me and for most of you (I'm a high school senior and don't exactly have to log much of anything)--but did anyone have to log their reading when they were a kid? And did a little of the fun get sucked out of it? If I'm going to get rewarded, fine, but I don't really want to know about it. Whenever the school puts out cute little contests where if I read this much or I get a certain GPA, I get something or the other, if I fill out this application or jump this hurdle, my interest level plummets. I won't participate. I just keep doing what I've been doing and completely ignore all the rewards. Admittedly, I have a similar mentality about scholarships (sheesh, why can't they just hand it to me or something), but in all honesty, THAT'S just laziness (and somehow, I managed to put in hours and hours on those blasted things). In scholarships and many big contests, rewards aren't just that, quaint little handouts, but things that are uncertain, take a lot of effort outside of that which one does anyway, and actually help you. Really, what's the use of a free t-shirt next to college cash? And, it's funny, but it's a fact that people in general are more likely to work for uncertain rewards than certain ones. It actually means something when you don't already know the outcome. Anyway, gold stars.