<p>Has anyone else noticed that HS val competition starts freshman year? These kids, pushed by their parents, chose courses (weighted) only to increase their GPA by a small fraction in order to gain an advantage. With so many students choosing their own courses I think the Val designation has lost its validity. It’s become a game and is no longer an indicator of a singular true achievement.</p>
<p>My 1972 public school graduating class of 500 had 22 valedictorians. No weighting, no AP’s, and these students all had 4.0 throughout high school.<br>
The public school my boys attended also had around 500 graduates with one valedictorian, with weighting of honors and AP classes. </p>
<p>To some degree it is a game - some students pick classes based on how much weight is given, and the kids at the top generally avoid band/music classes (even honors band/music) to take an AP with a higher weight.</p>
<p>I think that the rise of weighted classes doomed the concept of the valedictorian. Weighted classes plus class rank equals gaming of the system. But without weighting, you end up comparing apples and oranges, and you give val to the kid who got all As in easy classes.</p>
<p>Colleges can look at what courses you took and what grades you got in them. I think that’s enough.</p>
<p>At TJ the kids who speak at graduation are the ones who are good at speaking, mainly from the theater crowd. There is some competition for that.</p>
<p>Everyone is happy for the kids with the highest GPA’s, but what does that have to do with public speaking?</p>
<p>The TJ tradition works well enough.</p>
<p>"Many of the more hoity-toit high schools have simply stopped ranking students because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s “feelings”. "</p>
<p>No, because they believe ranking at a school like that is not particularly meaningful.</p>
<p>BBDad, you wrote what I’ve been thinking. Some people equate being valedictorian with the honor of giving the speech and that’s why being valedictorian is so important. But there are plenty of schools where the the speaker is not the valedictorian. Sometimes, it’s the class president; sometimes it’s a competition. I wish ds’s school was like that; I think the speeches could be more interesting.</p>
<p>I think multiple valedictorians dilutes the honor. Just because there is one valedictorian doesn’t diminish the achievements of others.</p>
<p>having not read this article when I first started reading this thread, my first thought was “Jericho High School”; needless to say, I was less than surprised that this was the first school profiled in this article…</p>
<p>Over the years, Jericho has created an environment where they will do “whatever it takes” to get their kids into schools: open AP enrollment from freshman year, no honors level courses (only AP’s), no class rank etc…no surprise that they would designate as many vals as possible…and apparently it works…</p>
<p>No idea if grade inflation exists; doesn’t matter though…the colleges love them…</p>
<p>Biff and Buffy aren’t white trash, Mr Payne. (where do you get this stuff?) </p>
<p>Biff and Buffy are old school old money preps who inherited mom’s volvo station wagon. They don’t do anything as crass as demand a BMW. You must mean Jennifer and Jason.</p>
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Sorry, I didn’t get the old school, old money upbringing you did.</p>
<p>I grew up in a rowhouse. No old money here.</p>
<p>I too thought Bif and Buff were white and well-advantaged. I don’t think Republican or Democrat affects the pushiness of parents. If they were the lower class inbreds of which you speak, it’s highly unlikely they had helicopter parents who were pushing the school to do anything.</p>
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<p>But TJ is not your “typical” HS. It makes sense for TJ not to have class rank as it is the most selective public HS in the US. What makes sense at TJ does not necessarily make sense at a neighborhood HS.</p>
<p>(note: My older child attended/graduated from a neighborhood public HS, my younger child will attend TJ this fall).</p>
<p>“Has anyone else noticed that HS val competition starts freshman year? These kids, pushed by their parents, chose courses (weighted) only to increase their GPA by a small fraction in order to gain an advantage… It’s become a game and is no longer an indicator of a singular true achievement.”</p>
<p>Posts like this bug me. It assumes lots of things about the valedictorian such as they “gamed the system” or their parents were “pushy”. My D was val this year out of a class of 400 (started with 500 freshman year). At no point did we discuss class rank. She chose the most challenging classes (weighted) because they were the ones that intellectually challenged her. In addition, she was involved with three sports, was a team captain, played in a community orchestra, and directed the peer tutoring program at the school. Maybe, the vals deserved the honor and weren’t “gaming” the system.</p>
<p>Sometimes that’s true, GT. Sometimes not. This year’s val was like your dd – hard-working, earnest. Never heard an unkind word about her. Last year’s val was a different story. Gamer of the first magnitude.</p>
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Your upbringing was elite, no reason to hide it.</p>
<p>I don’t think that “gaming the system” is necessarily evil–it may be entirely rational. I have to believe that, because I did it myself over 30 years ago.</p>
<p>In my senior year, I had an extra period because of accelerated math, and thought I’d take mechanical drawing, just for fun. The teacher made it clear that he didn’t really believe in giving As. Now, this was an unweighted class, and even an A in it would have brought down my GPA. So I didn’t take the class. I was mildly interested in mechanical drawing, but I was also interested in having all As and in being valedictorian. To me, the cost-benefit analysis told me not to take the class. If we hadn’t had class rankings, the calculation might have been different (although I still might have not wanted to risk getting a B). So I can’t judge anybody who “games the system” in this way–but I can say that if you remove ranking, you reduce the likelihood of gaming.</p>
<p>“But TJ is not your “typical” HS. It makes sense for TJ not to have class rank as it is the most selective public HS in the US. What makes sense at TJ does not necessarily make sense at a neighborhood HS.”</p>
<p>I am not sure why having the student with the highest GPA be the graduation speaker makes sense anywhere. Tell me again the connection between a high GPA and good public speaking skills? Note thats different from the question of releasing class rank to colleges. I do not see that making GPA less central to public honors is necessarily an action on behalf of formerly privileged ethnic groups. It could make sense on its own.</p>
<p>I thought I read somewhere this week that 51% of MIT’s incoming class was made up of valedictorians.</p>
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<p>I don’t believe I ever said that a connection existed. However, I happen to think it is a nice honor for the student with the highest GPA to be recognized and this is the traditional way that happens.</p>
<p>I also see no connection between being a HS principal and good speaking skills, and D’s principal was a horrible speaker. But we sure got to hear him enough times over 4 years.</p>
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<p>The dots practically connect themselves, don’t they?</p>