If everyone is special, no one is special

[Abbey Normal]

My daughter's high school held graduation ceremonies last weekend, and I learned that they had 10 valedictorians!

Has anyone heard of this happening? Is this part of the trend to make everyone feel special, like handing out soccer trophies to the losing team? I find it hard to believe that none of these 10 students could be differentiated academically.

 

[Hobbit]

My daughter's high school held graduation ceremonies last weekend, and I learned that they had 10 valedictorians!

Has anyone heard of this happening? Is this part of the trend to make everyone feel special, like handing out socceer trophies to the losing team? I find it hard to believe that none of these 10 students could be differentiated academically.

Yeah, my oldest cousin was supposed to be the valedictorian at her high school graduation (about 8 years ago), but that didn't set quite right with one of the teachers, whose daughter was about 3rd in the race, so they assigned multiple valedictorians based solely on unweighted GPA. Far cry from the graduation in a school in North Carolina (link coming). They weren't even allowed to wear their honor cords.

 

[5stringJeff]

My daughter's high school held graduation ceremonies last weekend, and I learned that they had 10 valedictorians!

Has anyone heard of this happening? Is this part of the trend to make everyone feel special, like handing out soccer trophies to the losing team? I find it hard to believe that none of these 10 students could be differentiated academically.

When I graduated high school (in 94), we had this, but they called it the Top 10. It was just too hard on the smart students for just one person to be the top, see, so they had 10.

 

[manu1959]

When I graduated high school (in 94), we had this, but they called it the Top 10. It was just too hard on the smart students for just one person to be the top, see, so they had 10.

you were no 1 though huh?

you are what my family calls creepy smart....highest compliment

 

[Hobbit]

THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!

 

[Mr.Conley]

It's stories like this one that make me realize how lucky I was to escape the public school system.

 

[Nienna]

At our high school, the tradition was to take the top average at the end of the third quarter, and that person would be valedictorian. At the end of the third quarter of her senior year, my baby sister was salutatorian, by fractions of a percentage point. The girl who was third in the class was having a hard time accepting this. By the end of the fourth quarter, she had pulled her average up to surpass my sister's by one tenth of a percentage point. Just days before the ceremony, the administration called my sister and told her she wasn't salutatorian. She had her speech written & everything.

It turned into a big stink, because the other girl HAD managed to get a higher average in the end; however, the valedictorian/salutatorian had always been named at the end of the third quarter in the past. They ended up allowing my sister to give the speech, but they named the other girl co-salutatorian.

What's upsetting to me is that this girl felt the rules should be changed just to suit her.

 

[Nienna]

BTW, ours was a private, Catholic school.

 

[CSM]

Mediocrity...that is what education is all about these days.

 

[jasendorf]

It's stories like this one that make me realize how lucky I was to escape the public school system.

Yeah... because this is only happening in public schools:

http://www.the-tidings.com/2006/0602/valedictorians.htm

At the top of their classes:
Catholic High School valedictorians
The following schools each selected
more than one Valedictorian:
Bishop Amat, La Puente: Rachele A. Mariano; Kimberlee A. Vander Most
Bishop Montgomery, Torrance: Kristine Bretney, Nicole Budrovich, Erika Budrovich, Christina Chung, Breanna Diaz, Colleen Fitzsimons, Rachel Pittluck
Damien, La Verne: Dane Delfs; Patrick Blaes ; Rami Totari; Luis Garcia; Ryan Pantages; Michael Oh; Fuad Elkhouri; Andrew Young
Holy Family, Glendale: Angela Bilog; Christina Nuno
Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks: Kevin Homsy; Edmund Mokhtarian; Ian Bozant, (7 from Holy Cross, New Orleans)
Paraclete, Lancaster: Ana Barrios, Lia Bonamassa, Christopher Bostwick, Clara Bostwick, Sawsan Farrukh, Jennifer Fernandez, Phebe Gibson, Alexandra Guzman, Lindsay Harvey, Morgan Henry, Elizabeth Hooghkirk, Dyan Leslie, Jasmine McClendon, Kristianne Meisels, Allison Muth, Derek Parnett, Christine Prange, Alexandra Ruelas, Susan Sakugawa, Skye Strong, Adrie Young
Sacred Heart, Lincoln Heights: Yecenia Muñoz; Elizabeth Perez

http://www.newsargus.com/news/archi..._schools_will_honor_class_of_2006/index.shtml

Private schools will honor Class of 2006
Faith Christian Academy has 16 students graduating Friday evening at 7. Ceremonies will be held in Faith Free Will Baptist Church auditorium, with the Rev. Dann Patrick speaking. The baccalaureate service was held Sunday evening.

The Class of 2006 has co-valedictorians this year, Elizabeth Virginia Clarke and Jonathan Bryan McNeese.

Where's the outrage over a graduating class of SIXTEEN having co-valedictorians?


Schools are tired of great students getting screwed on college applications because of the valedictorian label. Public High Schools tend to have much larger graduating classes than their private counterparts. In turn, while valedictorians who are first in a group of 40 kids get the same special "valedictorian" treatment by colleges as someone who is first in a group of 400 kids. Add to that the gaming of the system by kids who take 3 study halls their senior year (like my class' valedictorian in 1989) and guys like me who took AP Calculus and AP Physics and got B's instead of A's)... it's stupid.

Saw our class valedictorian at our ten year reunion... he's an HVAC salesman... our salutorian... a doctor. The titles mean almost nothing anyways... so why not help your students get a leg up on the parents and students who are gaming the system?

 

[jasendorf]

At our high school, the tradition was to take the top average at the end of the third quarter, and that person would be valedictorian. At the end of the third quarter of her senior year, my baby sister was salutatorian, by fractions of a percentage point. The girl who was third in the class was having a hard time accepting this. By the end of the fourth quarter, she had pulled her average up to surpass my sister's by one tenth of a percentage point. Just days before the ceremony, the administration called my sister and told her she wasn't salutatorian. She had her speech written & everything.

It turned into a big stink, because the other girl HAD managed to get a higher average in the end; however, the valedictorian/salutatorian had always been named at the end of the third quarter in the past. They ended up allowing my sister to give the speech, but they named the other girl co-salutatorian.

What's upsetting to me is that this girl felt the rules should be changed just to suit her.

What "rule" did she want changed? I see a "tradition" up there... are they one and the same?

And, while we're thinking about it... why would any system want to encourage students to slack off their final quarter?

 

[Said1]

The highschool I went to didn't always pick the person with the highest grade point average (although it was a factor) but they also included what the student brought to the school ie: school spirit and crap. Usually the Head Girl or Head Boy got it.

 

[dmp]

What "rule" did she want changed? I see a "tradition" up there... are they one and the same?

And, while we're thinking about it... why would any system want to encourage students to slack off their final quarter?

Sometimes we forgot and use too many words.

Award is based on 3rd qtr evaluation. The 3rd place girl wanted the award based on 4th qtr evaluation and the school caved (that means they buckled under her protests and allowed her to be 'co' salutatorian).

 

[dmp]

The highschool I went to didn't always pick the person with the highest grade point average (although it was a factor) but they also included what the student brought to the school ie: school spirit and crap. Usually the Head Girl or Head Boy got it.

We had a HeadGirl in my highschool - Vicki Lambert.



No Head Boy, but we all suspected this one guy named tony....

 

[Said1]

We had a HeadGirl in my highschool - Vicki Lambert.



No Head Boy, but we all suspected this one guy named tony....

Well, see what happens when you go to public school. :rotflmao:

 

[jasendorf]

Mediocrity...that is what education is all about these days.

Kids these days are far smarter than any previous generation as a whole. Bar none. Hell, in 1988 I was taking classes that they didn't even offer in High School during my parents' generation... Calculus, Physics... my junior high offered Algebra in the 8th grade and only 60 of us (of about 300) were able to pass the entrance test for it... Only 15 of us took Adv. Geometry as freshmen. My niece (who is starting high school next year) took Algebra in 7th grade where it is now the standard.

Kids are exposed to more information and have more knowledge and are more passionate and involved than any generation preceeding them. And, I can assure you that this advancement isn't coming from "better parenting."

 

[dmp]

Kids these days are far smarter than any previous generation as a whole. Bar none. Hell, in 1988 I was taking classes that they didn't even offer in High School during my parents' generation... Calculus, Physics... my junior high offered Algebra in the 8th grade and only 60 of us (of about 300) were able to pass the entrance test for it... Only 15 of us took Adv. Geometry as freshmen. My niece (who is starting high school next year) took Algebra in 7th grade where it is now the standard.

Kids are exposed to more information and have more knowledge and are more passionate and involved than any generation preceeding them. And, I can assure you that this advancement isn't coming from "better parenting."

Makes me wonder if society is replacing 'wisdom' with 'education'. I'd say the WWII generation probably WAS less educated, but they sure were a lot better. Wiser. More integrity. Harder-working. Knew the value of a dollar and practiced things like honor, self-discipline, duty, service and junk.

 

[jasendorf]

Sometimes we forgot and use too many words.

Award is based on 3rd qtr evaluation. The 3rd place girl wanted the award based on 4th qtr evaluation and the school caved (that means they buckled under her protests and allowed her to be 'co' salutatorian).

She said that awarding it based on the 3rd quarter is a "tradition"... does that mean it's a rule or "what they've always done even though it's not the student with the second highest GPA at the end of the school year"?

I'm asking. What was her school's definition of a salutorian? "The second highest GPA" or "the second highest GPA prior to the point where we let them screw off for the final quarter"?

 

[5stringJeff]

you were no 1 though huh?

you are what my family calls creepy smart....highest compliment

Thanks... but I didn't study well, so I was around the 25th percentile in grades. I was Nat'l Honor Society though.

 

[jasendorf]

Makes me wonder if society is replacing 'wisdom' with 'education'. I'd say the WWII generation probably WAS less educated, but they sure were a lot better. Wiser. More integrity. Harder-working. Knew the value of a dollar and practiced things like honor, self-discipline, duty, service and junk.

I can agree that that is true... but is that due to the schooling or the parenting? When the kids go home and play gameboy all night... is that the teachers' or the schools' fault? I think not.

If the schools and teachers knew you wanted them to raise your kids for you, they would probably try...