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By Design News Staff -- Design News, October 20, 2003
Social Hour
One of the problems with home schooling and also engineering education, is they are insular worlds. Students don't get the socialization to be effective outside of the academic world. To truly succeed it must be done within the context of the real game—work/life. Or in the case of Blair Hornstine, school. To run the race by yourself is not the real test. I have had many college interns over the years work for me in my department. All were excellent students but what they lacked from school was the perspective of how engineers actually function day-to-day. Our colleges need to address this from the start through more external relationships and truth telling by those invited to the classroom. Engineering is a tough world, but even crueler if you're not told the game.
John Keefe, West Chester, PA
Not What You Think
I read with interest you editorial, "15 Minutes of Fame" (DN 09.08.03) on the alleged high-school valedictorian plagiarist. I found this interesting article about Blair Hornstine (www.tow.com/photogallery/20030607_blair/). I thought you should have emphasized more the fact that she was not a "traditional" homeschooled student, but rather a student who was homebound for a period of time due to disabilities. She was an active member of the student body (according to the article) but was given attendance allowances for her physical condition. It appears that her situation was more complex than you suggested. I am not condoning her actions, and I think the award for which her lawyers asked was ridiculous, but she apparently did work hard for a recognition that she thought was being taken from her.
Dave Telling, Carson City, NV
Not Playing Fair
While I agree that Blair Hornstine went overboard in pursuing her claim to be sole valedictorian, I think your criticism is unduly harsh. The school board made an unprecedented change in the criteria for selecting valedictorian when they decided she had an "unfair advantage" over other students because she had been tutored at home. She was not "home schooled." She was enrolled in the high school curriculum and graded the same as the other students. If she had been "home schooled," she would not have been part of the student body and therefore ineligible to become valedictorian. The board decision to share the honor with a student having a lower GPA appears to be capricious. The rules changed. It would have been different had they dropped her grade after finding evidence of plagiarism, but that was after the fact. I'm not defending plagiarism, but editorial privilege used to club a high school graduate is excessive.
Eric J. Bergman, Kalispell, MT
Betcha It Was the Parents
I agree with most of what you said about Blair Hornstine. However, I submit that Blair was probably not to blame. I bet the cost of printing your next issue that an over-prideful parent was the culprit. Although I had the better grades than anyone else in the eighth grade, two girls got valedictorian and salutatorian because their parents said that I did not attend the entire year there (I was a transfer, due to a move from another city). Instead of raising a fuss, my Mom and I just had a little emotion together and let it go.
Tony Leslie, Longview, Tx
Baseball Physics
Thank you for writing another interesting article, "The Case of the Corked Bat," (DN Calamities 9.08.03). I have always been a baseball nut and can remember some controversy as a kid where some supposed "enlightened" people claimed that a curve ball was only an optical illusion. Even as a little leaguer I knew the reality behind the curve and knew that these people had obviously never played ball. You showed great restraint by stating that the corked bat "probably" does not help a batter. If you want to tackle a bigger issue in a future article, explain how every new pair of PF Flyers we got as a kid would make us run faster than the last pair.
Steve Wharton, Sarasota, FL
Zirkle's response: I am not sure I am qualified to address the PF Flyers issue. We always wore Converse® All Stars.
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