Some high schools are thinking of putting an end to the ranks of valedictorian and salutatorian, the two highest spots according to grade point average in most high schools.
Rather than have specific top spots such as those, some high schools are putting students in rankings based on certain scores so that if all students score above a specific threshold, they all get the same honor. As reported by the Associated Press:
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About half of schools no longer report class rank, according to the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Administrators worry about the college prospects of students separated by large differences in class rank despite small differences in their GPAs, and view rankings as obsolete in an era of high expectations for every student, association spokesman Bob Farrace said. There are also concerns about intense, potentially unhealthy competition and students letting worries about rank drive their course selections.
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Among those weighing a change is Lancaster High School in suburban Buffalo, where students are leading an exploration of replacing valedictorian-salutatorian recognitions with the college-style Latin honors of summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude.
Since this is how they do it in college, this may not be a bad idea, actually. It’ll get the students ready for college competition if that’s their future goal. Not everyone is happy about it, though:
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Elsewhere, commenters have peppered news websites with disparaging comparisons to giving “participation trophies” to avoid hurt feelings, while supporters point out the often statistically insignificant differences that separate students.
Rankings still play an important part in aspects of the college admissions process. There are scholarships for the top-ranked students, and the number of top students at colleges is factored into college rankings. Class ranks are also credited with improving diversity at the University of Texas, where a law guaranteed that a school’s top 10 percent would be accepted into a public university.
It seems there are differing opinions on this, and some indeed are based on structures, rankings, or scholarships that are already in place. It doesn’t seem to be as much as giving everyone a trophy as it does switching students to the standard for colleges.
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But maybe it is just more participation trophy philosophy…
What do you think?
