high school girl doesn't get to be valedictorian

[ASUADPi]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...?npc&nTar=OPUR

Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year.

Video


Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta denied valedictorian title
05-29-08

In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history.

It's still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state.

Her closest competitor's GPA is 5.64. No one disputes that she's the top student in her class numerically. The problem rests with another number entirely.

Anjali rocketed through high school in only three years.

But a school district policy states: "The valedictorian shall be the eligible student with the highest weighted grade-point average for four years of high school."

I really feel bad for this girl. It is truly messed up what the district is doing, even worse is that the parents of the kid who gets to be valedictorian (even though he technically didn't earn the title) think that it is okay. How can it be okay screwing a kid out of a scholarship and the title?

[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.

[1908Revelations]

epchick....I went to a private school my freshman year....lol

My friends and I refer to middle school as purgatory.....but that is a whole 'nother story. LMAO

[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.

[epchick]

Originally Posted by 1908Revelations

epchick....I went to a private school my freshman year....lol

My friends and I refer to middle school as purgatory.....but that is a whole 'nother story. LMAO

Purgatory? lol...shooot my middle years were down right HELL. I want to go to your middle school! lol, I wish i had purgatory!

[1908Revelations]

^ I meant for the teachers. LOL

[nate2512]

Well glad I didn't graduate in Texas, I didn't have near those kind of marks and turned up better scholarships than that.

[tld221]

interesting, ive always known JHS to be solely 7th and 8th grade. if anything, ELEMENTARY schools are moving to K-5 and making middle schools 6-8. or worse, im my mind, on a developmental level, K-4 and middle school as 5-8.

and back to the OT... we had a similar issue in our school. Our valdedictorian clearly had the highest GPA all 4 years, but then we had a guy transfer in junior year. He had a 4.0 at his old HS and maintained it at our school. He got shot down so hard because well, hed only been there 2 years.

IMO, he totally deserved it over her - the valedictorian's average was barely higher than mine, and i was #4. plus, he didnt ask to be transferred in. they gave him some BS about "oh well he came out of state so we cant even compare it to NYC standards."

trust me, weve all seen NYC standards, it aint that deep.

[PeppyGPhiB]

In Washington state, our elementaries are K-5, middle school 6-8, and high school 9-12. But it used to be elementary K-6, junior high 7-9, high school 10-12.

ETA: here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Conceptual distinctions

Junior high schools were created for the purpose of "bridging the gap between the elementary and the high school," a concept credited to Charles W. Eliot, president of Harvard University.[8] The faculty is organized into academic departments that operate more or less independently of one another. The middle school movement in the United States saw this model as inadequately addressing the intended purpose of transition by maintaining an emphasis on the high school model, as reflected in the "junior high" designation.

The middle school concept often involves a group of two to eight teachers from different disciplines working as a team with the same group of students of the same grade level, with each teacher teaching a different subject. This format facilitates interdisciplinary units, where part or all of the entire team teaches on the same general topic from the perspective of different disciplines. The middle school philosophy also advocates assigning students in each team to a homeroom. By having homeroom daily for various discussions and activities, middle schools try to foster a sense of belonging in students to ease social and emotional difficulties during adolescence.[citation needed]

Configurations

Middle school (sometimes abbreviated MS[9][10][11])is often used instead of junior high school when demographic factors increase the number of younger students.[12] Middle schools are usually grades 6, 7, and 8 (i.e. around ages 11-14), varying from area to area and also according to population vs. building capacity. Other common models include grades 5-8, 7-8, or 7-9.
The middle school format has now replaced the junior high format by a ratio of about ten to one in the U.S. In Canada, the junior high concept is primarily seen in Western Canada, while middle schools to US-standards are generally only seen in Ontario and parts of Atlantic Canada, where they are sometimes called senior elementary schools. Many people also call middle school "junior high school." Middle school does not exist at all in Quebec, where primary school comprises grades 1 to 6, secondary school comprises grades 7 to 11, and those latter are named "secondary 1" through "secondary 5".

[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.