In general, through high schools all around the world, NHS is supposed to be seen as something venerable, positive and worthy of being proud. However is it really an honorable society? According to NHS, National Honor Society “…is the nation’s premier organization established to recognize outstanding high school students.” This organization is currently established in the fifty states of United States, plus the majority of international schools around the world, including Colombia, the city of Medellín, and to be more specific, our school, The Columbus School. Even though NHS could be a total success in other schools and states, in TCS community, the staff has lost control of maintaining a balance between regular students and NHS students since they’ve constantly received a special treatment and are often protected by their directives in situations of guilt.

“NHS, has always been one of the organizations the school sees with admiration,” an opinion stated with pride, by Maria Victoria Jaramillo, TCS high school vice-principal. As Jaramillo pictures it, the acquisition of having this organization in the school has always been something the school cherishes and protects. Through the years, NHS and the school have been growing together, becoming each time a bigger community, but is it still a community necessarily ethical? As time goes by, the NHS staff have deteriorate their judgement towards candidates. As TCS Junior Sofia Niño explains “NHS became an organization of social hours, and not of their most exclusive and outstanding students.” The honorable society, has changed their angle of their ideal member to a much more basic and general prototype. Even though doing hundreds of social hours is something a principled student should have, it shouldn’t be the greatest quality of the candidate and sure thing, it shouldn’t be the attribute that counts the most in the decision of who should be part of this society. Pitifully, the NHS comity has been blacked out by the students who contain the most hours in community service. In other words, in the NHS applications, you encounter two type of students: On one hand, there’s that truly virtuous student who has exceptional grades, outstanding leadership experience and talent but has limited social service hours. On the other hand, there’s the basic and average student, with low to inferior leadership and standard grades, but has thousands of social hours. On a regular basis, it could be said the first student would be chosen to become NHS, due to the fact that has the complete package. Instead the community chooses the midpoint student with a large amount of hours.

Not only has NHS lowered their standard of candidates, but the school directives have favored NHS students and protected them in circumstances where they deserved a consequence. Six months ago, Junior Eliana Lopez, member of NHS was involved in a problem with the school directives and other non-NHS students. “It involved a project where we completed together but had different consequences, now that I was part of NHS and they were not. I was looked over by the directives and believe I had special treatment in the way that the process was fulfilled and studied as they did not persue a violent decision for being able to present the case to NHS and prevent expulsion.” Even though it was a situation that was solved, it doesn’t mean everyone received a fair treatment, “Everyone received a falta gravisima and I received a falta leve,” expressed Lopez. There’s nothing wrong with making mistakes and for sure; one mistake doesn’t define who we are as a person. But every act comes with its consequence, and the thing is that if one received the compassion of not being punished by that mistake, why not the others? According to NHS bylaws, Article X: Discipline and Dismissal section 2, “members who fall below the standards that were the basis for their selection shall be promptly warned in writing by the chapter adviser and given a reasonable amount of time to correct the deficiency, except that in the case of flagrant violation of school rules or the law, a member does not have to be warned.” IF the school and the “eminent” society would fulfill their own bylaw, the situation would turned out with other outcome, but instead, because they were dealing with a member of their exclusive society they, decided to cut some lines in order to have the finale they had, prejudicing everyone except the NHS member.

Many anxiously await being accepted to this society that appears to be something so exclusive and prestigious. However, it is clear that NHS and the school have lost their path and true objective. TCS community, have lost control of keeping up a harmony between consistent students and NHS students since they’ve continually gotten an exceptional treatment and are regularly secured by their directives in circumstances of guilt.