Wellesley High Students writing for The Bradford weigh in this week regarding the pros and cons of the honor roll, with one arguing that it would be left out of the newspaper and another urging students to treat getting on the list as a personal challenge.

One student writes that the honor roll can foster health competition among students and drive individual students to work harder in school. “Honor Roll is a major way in which students experience success. After a long term of hard work and endless nights of studying, seeing one’s name under a category honoring their dedication is nothing but rewarding.”

Another student argues against the Townsman publishing the honor roll, which inevitably attracts parents and students to go searching for students who didn’t make the list (in fact, we’ve always thought it would save the Townsman paper costs by publishing the names of just those who don’t make the list).

She writes: “Although I recognize that the honor roll may provide a sense of satisfaction in their hard work for some students, every student has different standards. Personally, if I got a C in a class I wouldn’t want my name to be in the paper under ‘honorable mentions,’ yet I would have no choice.”

She adds that Needham’s local newspaper stopped publishing the honor roll a few years back, and with good reason. That decision was applauded by some and joked about by others like Jay Leno as an example of political correctness gone wild.

From our vantage point, some might like to see the honor roll contained to the wall outside the principal’s office at Wellesley High, but that’s just not going to happen in this new social media world regardless of whether the Townsman stops publishing it in the paper. A quick cellphone photo and post to Facebook or a blog will ensure wide continued access to big list.