<p>NPR reports on the national trend to get rid of the valedictorian.</p>
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lowering competition among students is better for their overall success. Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota will graduate its last valedictorians this year. Next year, exceptional students will receive just an honors diploma.
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<p>oh man i wish my school would do that! it would be MUCH less stressful!</p>
<p>My school did not have a valedictorian or release class rankings. The student graduation speaker was voted on by the class.</p>
<p>My school hasn't had class rank in years.. but I think it is because of a small class.</p>
<p>I go to a large high school (700 per class) in a large county (15 or so high schools). It's a county policy that rankings don't exist. It's been like this as long as I can remember and I can't think of any reason why it would be worth having a valedictorian/class ranking.</p>
<p>Many students and faculty chose the school I attended because it is an excellent private prep school that lacks the cut-throat competition and drive seen at similar schools in the Northeast. I think moves such as our lack of class rank plays into this image and reality.</p>
<p>Our high school had a "no ranking" policy. If asked they would say, "we don't rank". But we still had a val and sal who were supposedly ranked #1 and #2. Go figure.</p>
<p>My daughter's high school supposedly has no ranks, and it does not have a valedictorian. But at the awards ceremony last week, the kids in the top 5% of the senior class got their names called and got certificates issued by the state. I think it was done by weighted GPA (on the grounds that my daughter got a certificate, and I don't think she would have if the ranks were unweighted), but nobody knows for sure.</p>
<p>Like doubleplay says, go figure.</p>
<p>At our large high school (500 per class), any student can submit a draft of a speech, which is then judged. In the next round, selected students present their speeches to a panel of teachers/administrators. Two student essays are chosen and those students become the salutorians.</p>
<p>Our school does rank, so someone is technically "first", when it comes to college admissions. However, no one is crowned valedictorian. The speakers at graduation are selected by audition.
Personally, I like this a lot. For one, I think it leads to better graduation speakers. I also think it helps to cut down on already prevalent competition. There are also reasons particular to our school that make it necessary.</p>
<p>"I can't think of any reason why it would be worth having a valedictorian/class ranking."</p>
<p>In some states, class rank is hugely important in gaining admittance to state universities. High schools that refuse to play along find their students facing reduced chances of getting in. Our state gives free tuition to every Val, so requires that the public schools name one each. Even if everyone in town would like to get rid of rankings, it's forced on them.</p>
<p>Selecting gradution speakers based on a student/faculty vote is a different matter. I remember my high school going that route the year after the Val burned his draft card onstage (dating myself here).</p>
<p>Our district hs's still have rankings and val/sal designations but the general atmosphere did not seem cut throat or uber-competitive when our son attended though there was at least one student who seemed to be in that category. In fact one student lowered her average a wee bit the last term so she would not have to give a sal speech at graduation.</p>
<p>The val/sal competition in my school never seemed all that competative, it was strange. The day I got leapfrogged for valedictorian by the #3 guy and my guidance counselor told me I was ridiculously happy, no one pays any attention to the salutatorian. My girlfriend at the time was #4 and she was hoping to drop to #5 so she wouldn't have to speak at class night.</p>
<p>Essentially the only one that care where he ended up was the #1, everyone else was pretty much trying to figure out how not to make a speech at graduation. It was actually very funny.</p>
<p>With the introduction of AP and IB programs, accelerated programs, online college classes, dual enrollment- I can't believe that the days of simple class rankings are not on the way out. It's just getting too complicated to take into account what students have taken.</p>
<p>In college, there are different GPA requirements for Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude, etc. based on the degree program (at least at our state U there is). At UF a 3.2 earns an engineering student a place on the Dean's List; a Liberal Arts and Science student needs a 3.7.</p>
<p>It's already more than obvious that some students strategize for class rank with their course selections instead of picking what's best for their overall education. The ranking system has turned into a Hoping for A and Rewarding B system.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Eden Prairie High School in Minnesota....<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Must be near Lake Wobegon - where all the children are above average.</p>