I heard some really pitiful news today. Eden Prairie High School will not name valedictorians of the senior class after this year. Anyone who meets a certain standard will get to wear honor cords at graduation. Because god forbid we single someone out for a certain achievement that others may not have received.
My high school had three valedictorians.
One of them I never knew well, but I did know that she out-did our school's math classes: had to go to the local community college our senior year.
One of them was one of those freakishly brilliant people who was also one of the nicest human beings you could ever hope to meet. You'd want to hang out with her, just thinking that being in her proximity some of that genius would wear off on you.
The third was a childhood friend for whom perfect grades and perfect attendance were the pinnacles of her life. My junior year of high school she dropped out of Honors History, because she was worried that she couldn't get an A in the course, and then her perfect GPA would be ruined.
Me, I tried to drop out of Advanced Algebra Trig my sophomore year of high school because it was kicking my ass (first math class I ever got an A- in). But my parents and my counselor wouldn't let me. They realized that the challenge would be good for me. That I needed to learn that, even in those things I was "good" at, that were my "strengths," that perfection wasn't always in the cards.
Me, although I strove for the 4.0 GPA, it was about the journey rather than the destination. I would rather have a class that challenged me, in which I learned things, than an easy A. I also had a tough time performing for teachers I didn't respect. So I doomed to get Bs in my English class my senior year.
I also think this crap about honoring more students is complete BS. Because my high school may have had three valedictorians, but it also had a hell of a lot of people who had honors cords at graduation. They were called National Honor Society members. You needed a 3.5 gpa to get in. And maybe some other stuff. Not sure on that, because I didn't get the 3.5 gpa until my final semester, so I was never a candidate. Yet I still went to a private university, with an academic scholarship. And I don't have any sort of complex because I wasn't valedictorian at my school.
Everyone has different priorities in life, and valedictorian wasn't one of mine. So don't penalize me because it's not something I prioritize, and not something I wish to work towards.
The year I graduated from high school East Plano High School had something like 200 valedictorians. Where my high school had that group photo of the entire senior class where you need a magnifying glass and a legend to pick yourself out of the crowd, East Plano had that photo of the valedictorians. So, if they eliminate valedictorians for a standard that "honors" more students, every damn student at the school would have honor cords.
I really don't understand this culture that's overcoming our country, where we can't single out kids for their achievements because it might make other kids feel bad. I think it's doing a disservice to the kids. Some kids will be good at academics. Other kids will be good at sports. Some kids will excel in other areas. I may not have been valedictorian, I may not have had a chance in hell on a sports field, but I had my leadership skill drawn upon and recognized by people. And some of the skills I started to develop back in high school are things that I am strongest at, and enjoy the most, to this day.
Even without the title or the honor cords.
I am so sick of the p.c. "we can't make anyone feel bad" society that we're producing. The kids that work their butts off and do better than everyone else deserve to be honored. And this is coming from someone who graduated somewhere towards the upper middle of her class.
Posted by: Jennifer of Dog.Yarn.Knit. | 05 June 2007 at 08:40 AM
What's scary (from where I'm sitting anyway) is how much this _isn't_ for the bottom kids in the class, who really do need help believing they could do good academic work.
This is about not making anybody feel bad because they came in _second_.
We are raising a generation of over-scheduled, over-evaluated, over-programmed kids who need need need to be the "best," and heaven help you if you tell them they're "also very good."
And if we were honest, we'd admit that it's not about that kid who needs help, it's about avoiding the call from the psycho soccer/stage mom who just can't believe anyone would give her little angel an A-minus.
Posted by: Joe | 06 June 2007 at 05:56 AM
I don't think this is so much about "honoring" a specific student, I think this is about grade inflation. It's getting easier and easier to get a 4.0 nowadays due to it and it certainly isn't helping students once they get to college. 4.0 one year and the next 2.3 because they aren't prepared for the true acedemic rigors.
Posted by: Janell | 07 June 2007 at 09:16 AM