Scholastic achievement is most often equated with grades; most awards and recognition are given on this basis. But grades are merely a means to an end; we only use them to encourage scholarship because we haven’t found anything better.
Scholarship is not a single-minded pursuit of academic recognition. It is an attitude of inquiry, of open-minded curiosity—the desire and the willingness to acquire knowledge and an understanding of the world around us, and through it, ourselves. It is the drive to know not only who, and what, and when, and not just how, but why.
A scholar is one who takes ideas apart and examines them, in the process creating new ones. The scholar pursues an accumulation of knowledge not only to empower himself, but others as well. As a member of the National Honor Society, one pledges to maintain that curiosity and to seek the enlightenment of both oneself and others.
© 2001 Fyrna Ela'eren All rights reserved.