We're all Number 1! Is 21 Valedictorians too many?

[ASTalumna06]

What say you, GCers? Should there only be one valedictorian? Is this more of that "everyone gets a trophy" mentality? Is this indicative of a watering down of grades and of teachers handing out As, as the article suggests? Or is rewarding and praising multiple students a good thing?

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...-too-many?lite

When the seniors say farewell to South Medford High in Oregon next weekend, one of the school's 21 valedictorians will lead the flag salute, another valedictorian will recite the history of the 365-member class, and a third will introduce the keynote speaker. But all 21 can enjoy a sweet piece of the ceremony, if they choose.

At Enterprise High in Alabama, the valedictorians — all 34 of them — plucked names from a hat to gain coveted speaking spots during their commencement earlier this month. And at Bluffton High in Ohio, more than 10 percent of this year’s 84-member senior class carried the title “valedictorian.”

As graduation season peaks, numerous high schools are rightfully praising their clusters of valedictorians yet also forsaking a time and tradition when just one elite student received that honor — along with the lone ranking of No. 1 in class.

[Sen's Revenge]

This is so crazy I don't even know where to begin.

At one of the schools, it seems as though they don't weigh the advanced courses more heavily and that 4.0 is the highest GPA you can get. The more rigorous courses should be worth more.

And if there are 34 Valedictorians, I'm sorry but they need to be finding a way to determine who the "true" valedictorian us, whether through lot, vote, or hunger games.

[AOII Angel]

I guess you can have that many students who never made a B. what are you going to do? Go back and average out the number grades to see who had the highest A?

In my attending's son's school in San Antonio, students got points towards Valedictorian status. grades were only part of the equation. Extra-curricular activities and clubs counted. My attending was pissed because his son with all A's was below another kid with the same grades. His son was quarterback on the football team and had been a 4 year varsity member while the other kid played in the band. Apparently the band counted for more points than football.

ETA: I told my attending to quit bitching since his son won the top scholarship given to incoming students to UT. Wah, wah, wah. I was salutatorian. How will I ever recover?

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I guess you can have that many students who never made a B. what are you going to do? Go back and average out the number grades to see who had the highest A?

How have they been doing it up to this point? This is the first I've heard of there being multiple valedictorians at a school, so there must have been some system of figuring out who was truly #1.

I had just over 900 students in my senior class, and we still only had one valedictorian.

What seems strange to me is that more than 10% of a graduating class can be valedictorian, as is the case for that Ohio high school in the article. Something seems really off there. Even 21 valedictorians out of 365 students seems excessive. I don't blame colleges for questioning how that can happen and for praising the valedictorian status a little less than they have in the past.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I was salutatorian. How will I ever recover?

Remember when only male students were named high school valedictorian? In the 1960's my aunt raised two (male) valedictorians and two (female) salutatorians; they all attended/graduated same undergrad college with the men eventually working as lawyers and the women, teachers.

Our high school graduation program listed top 25 members of graduating class with asterisk(s) next to their names. It was common knowledge who was actually ranked number one (of 1075 class members) because the school had our rank list available after each quarter ended, and you were allowed to inquire of anyone's rank.

We had sets of numeric/weighed grade rankings, with an "A" in Advanced Placement courses earning 5 points but an "A" in Regular courses earning 4 points. The tougher a course, the higher the numeric weight of the grade earned toward GPA. Our smarties had GPAs above 4.0 due to this system.

The school occasionally pictured top 10/top 25 students in yearbooks and school/local newspapers.

As to becoming a student speaker at graduation, we had to submit speeches in advance to a coalition of teachers/admins for reading/approval. Our valedictorian did not speak (I believe she had more important, scholastic things to accomplish), but two of three chosen speakers were among top 25 students.

[Munchkin03]

15 years ago, my HS class eliminated valedictorians and just did summa, magna, and cum laude. My school is considerably more competitive now than it was when I graduated, and the threshold for each designation is super high. Kids take summer classes at the local college to boost their gpa. No such things as gut classes anymore!

So, while it's cute to moan about "everyone gets a trophy" and grade inflation, that's not true for a lot of schools. If anything, the kids are more ruthless and competitive because there are a lot of kids competing for a decreasing number of resources.

[sweetongreek]

I graduate Cum Laude at my high school, but we also had Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Our high school did not have weighted GPA (so the max was a 4.0) and only one graduate my four years actually had a perfect 4.0. Because of this there was rarely a tie for Valedictorian, but I think in the past there have been a few instances of ties and they've broken the tie based on courses taken (ex: taking more AP classes/honors classes, etc.). You also could only graduate Cum Laude/Valedictorian/Salutatorian if you were taking challenging courses--multiple AP classes, honors projects. Graduating multiple Valedictorians to me just screams "grade inflation". So I'm much more proud of my 3.75 unweighted compared to high schools graduating kids with 4.5s who got to take college courses.

[adpiucf]

I think it is all a bit ridiculous that everyone wins just for showing up. That isn't how it is in the real world, and it sets young people up for inability to cope later when they don't "win."

For example, my friend's elementary school aged-kids were showing off their gymnastics "medals" recently. But in reality, they were "medals" for participating in an end of season showcase. I'm glad the kids are jazzed about gymnastics, but they didn't earn a medal; their parents paid for them to participate in a recital.

[lilykkg]

Originally Posted by Cheerio

We had sets of numeric/weighed grade rankings, with an "A" in Advanced Placement courses earning 5 points but an "A" in Regular courses earning 4 points. The tougher a course, the higher the numeric weight of the grade earned toward GPA. Our smarties had GPAs above 4.0 due to this system.

My high school did/does this. The valedictorian almost always was a student taking many AP courses. I don't think there has ever been more than one person as valedictorian, but then again, when I graduated from high school, the school was only about 10 years old.

Since there were a lot of students with really high GPAs, they were given ropes or stoles depending on where their GPA fell on a scale.

[FSUZeta]

Perhaps it is time to place Valedictorian/Salutatorian by the wayside and go with Summa, Magna, and Cum Laude. Or, as Sen suggests, Hunger Games.

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

Perhaps it is time to place Valedictorian/Salutatorian by the wayside and go with Summa, Magna, and Cum Laude. Or, as Sen suggests, Hunger Games.

Sounds like a plan!

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

Perhaps it is time to place Valedictorian/Salutatorian by the wayside and go with Summa, Magna, and Cum Laude.

This is what many schools are beginning to adopt. The speakers are chosen by either the student body or by tryouts. Colored cords or stoles are given to the students earning those three distinctions with each color corresponding to a certain level.

[honeychile]

I would think that this is what happens to a society when everybody gets trophies for showing up, from T-Ball to GPAs.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

Perhaps it is time to place Valedictorian/Salutatorian by the wayside and go with Summa, Magna, and Cum Laude. Or, as Sen suggests, Hunger Games.

I vote Hunger Games.

[kaeb]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I would think that this is what happens to a society when everybody gets trophies for showing up, from T-Ball to GPAs.

For me, at least, it had the opposite effect—when 1/4 of the class is a valedictorian, it really doesn't mean anything to be a valedictorian, and I think most of us knew/realized that. Besides, by that point, we already knew where we were going to college, which really kind of established the hierarchy of intelligence, as awful as that sounds.

edit: maybe that's not the opposite effect, I'm not sure. Eh, oh well.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by kaeb

For me, at least, it had the opposite effect—when 1/4 of the class is a valedictorian, it really doesn't mean anything to be a valedictorian, and I think most of us knew/realized that. Besides, by that point, we already knew where we were going to college, which really kind of established the hierarchy of intelligence, as awful as that sounds.

edit: maybe that's not the opposite effect, I'm not sure. Eh, oh well.

Which is why giving everybody a trophy is false self-esteem.