That's what I was thinking. I loved high school. I can't imagine skipping out on my senior year. It was the most fun of all 4.

Dee.... my how things have changed in 10 years. I took SO many electives, some even twice (besides Yearbook). Maybe that's why high school was so fun for me.

^^^ I'm with you. I loved EVERY second of high school. I was able to do soooooo many things I wouldn't have had the chance to do otherwise....studying abroad, hosting a Russian, quiz bowl, FBLA....that's in addition to the "big" things like Senior Class President and Student Government.

I even joined FHA for a semester!

My senior year I took three office aid/administrative asst. I also learned how to cook a few thing too.

I graduated from high school 11 years ago and I don't even remember who our valedictorian was.

Who I do remember are the classmates who've gone on to do great things after graduation. My class boasts a number of amazing women.

Valedictorian or not, I'm sure this girl has a bright future ahead of her.

I had to "take" the "Office Ass't" class as well -- they gave that to kids with either incomplete schedules or when your required courses were full. Example: You're supposed to take World History as a Sophomore, but because there were only two sections offered and they were both full, my counselor knew I'd get priority if I waited until my senior year to take it. Plus she knew I'd find it to feel more like an easy elective than a required class.

Holy CRAP, it WAS 11 years ago now!!!

My valedictorian was a chick who could have gone to an Ivy league but went to probably the worst college in Pennsylvania on a free ride. She got raped her freshman year and lost her mind. Now, whenever anyone from high school sees her and says hello, she'll scream I DON'T KNOW YOU! And will walk quickly away.

Incidentally, her older brother was valedictorian two years before us, went to Georgetown for two years, then disappeared without a trace.

Oh, mine weren't for credit, if you were an athlete, due to your athletic p.e. being the last hour of the day, you were forced to stay. There was nothing left worth taking, except being stuck in classes with bitchy freshman girls all day, so I took those. The only time I ever actually did anything was on discipline day, we would harass the kids in trouble.

Nate and Sensuret, you guys are lucky you were allowed to take that type of class. At my HS they were called "outs" because you were out of a class. They were normally given during senior year, because that is when you have less classes that you are required to take. My bitch of a counselor decided that I couldn't have any outs. Why I don't understand, we had 7 class periods and I only had 4 classes. My friends all got outs b/c they had different counselors but us that were lucky enough to have our last names @ the beginning of the alphabet got stuck with Bitchy McBitcherson.

Lucky I was able to get 2 teachers to make up some bullshit class that isn't TECHNICALLY an "out" but it would work that way. And then I took home ec (which was taught by the football coach).

Well, back in MY day, high school was 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. We really only had to take 6, 5 and then 4 hours to have enough credits to graduate so a lot of people did that. I did take 5 hours my senior year because I wanted to take another year of Spanish. We could take up to 6, but how many kids, if given a choice of going home at 1 pm or 3 pm would choose to go home at 3 pm? I was an oddball for having 5 hours my senior year.

I didn't particularly like high school... although I was very active. Candy Striping, Spanish Club, Honor Society and working about 20 hours a week. (I was also a Girl Scout but didn't admit that to many people!)

Also, once we turned 18, during our senior year, we could call ourselves in sick. That was an amazing thing at the time! Smoking was also allowed once you turned 18, in the designated smoking courtyards. Yes, times have changed a lot.

that sucks.... i've been hearing about that on the local news.

supposedly when the girl was in junior high (or middle school?) the counselor told her graduating early wouldn't hurt her chances of being valedictorian so she went ahead and started plans to graduate early.

ETA: WHOA! She even had a perfect ACT score !

I am sure that if she graduated in 3 years with that high of a GPA, there are MORE than enough free rides out there. Not just in academics, she is also a minority. She is essential a college's T-Bone steak... and should have no problem getting the money to go to college.

My hometown has junior high schools... Elementary is K-4, Middle school is 5-6, junior high is 7-8 and high school is 9-12.

That was "new" when I was a sophomore... before then, Elementary was K-5, Middle school was 6-7, jr. high was 8-9 and HS was 10-12.

And from what I understand it wasn't a statewide "law" that created the situation... it was a district policy that was in place for that school district to define who the valedictorian would be.

Wow, that's a new one to me. So everyone attends a minimum of four schools, then? Middle school AND junior high?

10 years ago, my HS class didn't have valedictorians...just summa cum laude for the top 1%, magna for the top 3%, and cum laude for the top 10%. It's funny that what seemed so important 10 years ago doesn't matter now.

RE: college graduation rates, the person who said that 4 years is still the standard for private schools is absolutely right. Where in a public school there's a good possibility of having classes fill up, that just isn't happening in most private colleges. If a class I needed to graduate got cancelled, then I could always liase with the professor to do an independent study on the same topic.

I went to an IB school, and every diploma holder gets a year of advanced standing at most schools. My classmates who went to Florida schools all tried to get out in 3 years, which I do not understand whatsoever. I was offered a year as well, but if I had done that, there was so much that I couldn't do--study abroad, taking classes at RISD, being PanHell president, etc etc etc. Who wants to do college in 3 years? Also, most of those kids had full-tuition scholarships, so it wasn't as if they were saving their parents any money, either...weird kids.

I LOVE this set up. As a sub. I frequent middle schools (I love sixth grade) and there is a big difference b/t the kids in 6 & 7/8. Keeping 6 and 8th away from each other sounds good to me. But that's just me!

Anyways:
I feel bad for this young lady, she worked hard and did far more than a lot of people could hope for. 3 years or 4 years, whatever. She is in the senior class and she has the highest GPA. I would have thought that would be the basic requirements. Why would they have this rule that essentially can discourage children from excelling to their highest potential? (Although I can't imagine getting out of high school early. I don't even think it was an option at my school...)