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How would you like that kid as a roommate freshman year?
My kids would be appalled if I erected such a billboard, but then again I would be appalled if they made a post like the one in @GnocchiB’s post (#18). I would have sat them down for a long discussion about the meaning of the word “humility”.
This kid had a sky high GPA, was President of multiple clubs, and was all-conference in two sports. The school is honoring him with the summa cum laude designation. Does anyone really think his light was being hidden under a bushel?
I like the idea of high schools using Latin honors. It allows them to honor high academic achievement without buying into the crazy fight for the top spot, in which kids do things like get a doctor’s note to get out of gym so as not to take a non-honors hit to their GPA.
I wouldn’t mind if the school bragged about its overall academic standing or about the sterling performance of its Academic Decathlon team or something. I’ve long had a gripe that schools have misplaced values by extravagantly honoring and celebrating athletic championships and success while giving academic success short shrift. But for an individual parent to boast in this way is way over the top. Dowright unseemly.
I think that school is doing a good thing…for college admissions there is almost no advantage to being a Val and kids are taking study hall instead of orchestra to get that extra .01 in GPA. I don’t think that is something we should be encouraging… we should encourage kids to explore different electives along with their academic classes.
The billboard isn’t about celebrating success, it’s a display of dominance. The message isn’t that the kid did well or achieved top scores, it’s about how his scores were higher than everybody else’s.
If the school isn’t sanctioning that type of label or comparison, it would be interesting to know how the father even knew that his son’s scores were comparatively higher than every other student’s scores without having access to information that isn’t public.
@milee30 The article I read is that this year they still report rank and his report card had him as ranked 1 out of the total.
My guess is that the father was excited and proud thinking that his son was going to be named V, got angry when the school changed the rules, and this was his over-the-top response. In the end, all he really did was make a fool out of himself. Seems like the kid was in on it too based upon post #18. Maybe they figured they could afford to throw away $1,800 since he has a free ride to NC State.
Interesting conversation. In S’s class, the top 5 were all well known to each other. And there was almost a battle to be number 3, to avoid speaking at graduation. In the end, the valedictorian ended up thanking the salutatorian (among others) for supporting her along the path. And the top two were off, gpa-wise, by less than .02, if I recall correctly.
Another perspective… I love that a Dad is so proud of his kid that he did this. The student will always remember it. Heartwarming!
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Methinks NC State should consider deducting $1,800 from his scholarship. After all, if Dad has the money to blow on a billboard…
I think it’s probable that in the past certain honors were bestowed upon the valedictorian. Then the high school decided to change that. The change was instituted late in the game and dad was angry about it.
Hey, I wouldn’t do this but…many of us…certainly yours truly…get annoyed when rules are changed mid-stream. Maybe that’s really what this is about.
Our HS went from ranking every student to only ranking the top 10 students…and reporting everyone else in deciles. This change happened fall of senior year.
There was also an error in their GPA calculations…kids who took AP and honors courses had lower weighted GPAs than unweighted. That formula was corrected…and it resulted in some kids’ class ranks to change within the top ten. The student who moved from 2 to 3 had a parent who held ME responsible for this “drop” in her kids class rank. Oh please.
We had a Val and Sal. My DD and son don’t even remember who they were in their class.
I can’t remember who the Val and Sal were in my class either.
Really, the day after graduation, no one cares…they really don’t.
I think this is hilarious. Back in my day, the top students were a big deal because, well, they really were the top. Nowadays, when you are in a school district that doesn’t count weighted gpa’s towards Val/Sal distinction (so, anyone with a 4.0 uw, regardless of whether they took zero AP’s or 12), you wind up with 4 valedictorians in my D’s middle-of-the-road public HS, and 45+ at another much more competitive public not far away. It starts to lose its meaning, doesn’t it? My D liked having that benchmark for herself to shoot for, but I don’t think she thought it would vault her into schools too far beyond her reach. We were proud of her because we know how hard she worked for it and were glad she achieved her goal. And if they had gone by weighted gpa’s, she would have been a Sal, which would have been A-OK with her.
My kids were taught this from an earlier age. Clearly the kid is not learning from the father when his father is buying a billboard to advertise it. Sounds like his father needs a dose of humility too. While the father has every reason to feel proud of his son, there is a difference between being proud and bragging.
I can understand feeling resentful if the family was expecting their son to be recognized but this seemed over the top. My daughter would absolutely be mortified.
Ok, crazy, but so is my son’s school. 126 valedictorians out of 550 kids.
The schools do have a problem. The “top” kid is hard to identify when everyone takes a different number of APs, and quality points do not correlate perfectly with class difficulty. But 10 would be plenty.
Renting a billboard for your would-be valedictorian is eye roll worthy – if you’re into that.
What is also eye roll worthy is this humble brag of an article… oh my gosh. Why take out a billboard when you can write an article of which 50% consists of how effortlessly smart your own kids are and what a laid-back humble parent you are. 
Different strokes for different folks. That’s what makes it such an interesting world.
D18 never told us she was notified in the days leading up to graduation as being in the running for class Valedictorian. We found out when we read the program. One of her teachers told us at her graduation party that when she congratulated her she said, “Oh, I hope not!” A billboard? Oh, I think not! X_X
I agree with the Facebook approach, LOL! I took a picture of my kid with her gold salutatorian sash and posted it. For her college graduation, I took a picture of the list of summa cum laude grads and buried it in a series of other, non-braggy pics. And now I’m telling you kind internet strangers how accomplished my D is. This is my billboard and it’s free!
The billboard is a huge no. I hope no one crashes their car while engaging in extreme eye-rolling.
S19’s school recognizes students graduating with a weighted GPA over 4.0 with a cord and a list of “honors students” in the graduation program (usually about 20% of the class). They do recognize two students for overall achievement, but I’m not sure they are actually ranked 1 and 2. The main student speaker is selected by contest - anyone can enter a speech.