Honor societies are losing their value
National Honor Society was officially established in 1921 and by 1930, the organization had grown from the original Alpha Chapter at the Fifth Avenue School to having more than 1,000 chapters. Today, it is estimated that over one million students participate in NHS, whose goals are “to create enthusiasm for scholarship; to stimulate a desire to render service; to promote leadership; and to develop character in the students of secondary schools.” However, the increasing NHS membership rates may not indicate that a growing number of students are demonstrating “enthusiasm for scholarship” or “a desire to render service” but that many students are only interested in adding activities to pad their college resumes. Instead of focusing on one society and putting a significant amount of their time immersing themselves in the activities that the society offers, students may be tempted to join a multitude of societies in order to decorate themselves with more cords at graduation or to impress college admissions officers.
“I definitely think that the main motivation for giving up lunch to an honor society meeting is the idea that participation in these honor societies will aid admittance to college,” junior Rachel Sweetnam, a member of five honor societies, said. “I have, for the most part, found [honor society] meetings to be largely a mad rush for the sign in sheet. To me, the self-important shoving toward a piece of paper that somehow promises a college acceptance does not denote honor.”
Additionally, because meetings for many honor societies are so widely spread out, participation is minimal, causing the society to lose its value and students to not truly benefit from being a part of the society. “National Science Honor Society and National History Honor Society have sporadic meetings. Mu Alpha Theta does not have meeting requirements,” Sweetnam said. “National Science Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta simply have certain grade and class requirements and admit unlimited members.”
As Sweetnam mentioned, because many honor societies, such as National Science Honor Society and National History Honor Society, have lax requirements for acceptance, a great number of students are allowed to participate which reduces that society’s selectivity and therefore its prestige. Essentially, what impact does being part of an honor society have on college applications if so many students are so “honorable” and able to join? This is not to say that all members of honor societies join solely for selfish reasons, for many participate because they truly love the subject that a particular honor society focuses on, but that students should think before they choose to join an honor society and reflect on their true reasons for joining it, and whether those reasons are, in fact, honorable. “In general, I think that students do tend to join honor societies because they know it will look good on their resumes,” senior and co-president of Spanish National Honor Society Micaela
Flores said. “However, in my experience with Spanish Honor Society, I have noticed that as the year progresses and as students participate in the cultural activities that Spanish Honor Society sponsors, our members definitely are reminded of how rich the Spanish culture is and how fun it is to be a part of such a vibrant community.”
