high school girl doesn't get to be valedictorian

[lyrica9]

oh that is awful! but i believe texas also offers scholarships for kids that graduate in less than 4 years, so at least she has that? consolation prize, but still good.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by lyrica9

oh that is awful! but i believe texas also offers scholarships for kids that graduate in less than 4 years, so at least she has that? consolation prize, but still good.

I graduated 5 years ago, but this was how it went:

If you were valedictorian, you pretty much got a full ride (at least in TX)
If you graduated in less than 4 years, you got $1000.

$1000 isn't anything anymore, maybe enough for 3 textbooks?

[1908Revelations]

Originally Posted by epchick

I graduated 5 years ago, but this was how it went:

If you were valedictorian, you pretty much got a full ride (at least in TX)
If you graduated in less than 4 years, you got $1000.

$1000 isn't anything anymore, maybe enough for 3 textbooks?

$1000 is nice, but it still wasn't anything 5 years ago either.

[PeppyGPhiB]

I know most parts of the country are moving toward middle schools now instead of junior highs, but aren't there some places in Texas that still have junior high schools and therefore only 3-year high schools? Doesn't that law rule out any valedictorian from a 3-year high school?

[1908Revelations]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I know most parts of the country are moving toward middle schools now instead of junior highs, but aren't there some places in Texas that still have junior high schools and therefore only 3-year high schools? Doesn't that law rule out any valedictorian from a 3-year high school?

Eventhough there are some jr.highs I still believe in cases like 'how many years in HS' they would still count the 9th grade as HS, eventhough the student spent that year in a school that went from 6th-9th.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by 1908Revelations

$1000 is nice, but it still wasn't anything 5 years ago either.

That's true. Although, I know that when I first started college $1000 could pretty much pay your first semester tuition.

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I know most parts of the country are moving toward middle schools now instead of junior highs, but aren't there some places in Texas that still have junior high schools and therefore only 3-year high schools? Doesn't that law rule out any valedictorian from a 3-year high school?

I've never heard of that, do they do that in other parts of TX? I know here, for the longest time there was really no middle school. It was K-6th and then something like 8th-12th. IDK, i get confused when my mom tries to explain it to me. That how it was for my brother when graduated from HS in 1990. I know that many schools here still do K-5th as elementary, 6-8th, and then HS is 9th-12th.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Traditionally elementary was K-6, junior high was 7-9, and high school was 10-12. But now the country is moving toward middle schools, which are grades 6-8 usually, meaning high schools now tend to be 9-12. But by doing a quick google search, it looks like middle schools in Texas tend to be 7-8 only, then 9-12 high school.

[ComradesTrue]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I know most parts of the country are moving toward middle schools now instead of junior highs, but aren't there some places in Texas that still have junior high schools and therefore only 3-year high schools? Doesn't that law rule out any valedictorian from a 3-year high school?

It wasn't a Texas law that applied here. Instead it is a district policy of the school district that she attends (Grapevine-Colleyville).

The district policy was enacted to prevent students from transferring into their schools late in the high school career to attempt to become valedictorian. That seems reasonable enough, but applying it in the broad sense to prevent this girl from the honor is ridiculous. She has attended Grapevine-Colleyville schools throughout, and took the same classees as all of the students that she will be graduating with. She just "lapped" them by completing the coursework in 3 years.

As for the Jr High/Middle School thing... in Texas it is up to each district to set the breakdown. I don't personally know of any Jr. Highs left, but there may be a few. Some larger districts have attempted creative ways to break it up... including making 9th grade its own campus.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

I know most parts of the country are moving toward middle schools now instead of junior highs, but aren't there some places in Texas that still have junior high schools and therefore only 3-year high schools? Doesn't that law rule out any valedictorian from a 3-year high school?

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.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

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.

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

[Munchkin03]

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.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

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.

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...)

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

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...)

Our middle school keeps each grade very separate. They each have their own hallway where their lockers and classrooms are. They have separate lunches and sit in different places on the bus. They have three separate entrances and exits. The only time they mingle is in when they are walking to the bus and then, it seems, they are so concerned with just getting out of the school and to the dang bus that they don't interact..lol

ETA: My high school also did not have a valedictorian. There were 713 students and of the top 10 students, 4 were tied for the top rank spot, 4 for the second spot and 2 for the third spot and they were all separated by .001 or something ridiculous like that. We had summa cum laude for 3.9 and up, magna cum laude for 3.7 and up and cum laude for 3.5 and up. My kids' high school had 3 valedictorians this year with identical GPAs.