@PurpleTitan hits the proverbial nail on the head. I was at a breakfast honoring the top students in suburban Toledo earlier this weekend. The kids had to give a short speech about their favorite teacher. One kid mentioned 6 times in a three minute speech that he was “the Valedictorian from ___________.” He also was undecided because he had been wait listed at several top schools. We had been invited to attend a different event a couple of weeks ago where the teachers spoke about the students. This boy’s AP Calc teacher mentioned that the boy had taken HS Calculus in 7th Grade and often emailed her to ask if SHE understood certain concepts. He is undoubtedly a math genius, but his personality seemed to be lacking. He actually ended his speech with, “I am sure you’ll be hearing about me in the future.”
One of the other kids literally stared at his shoes while he read his speech.
On the other end of the spectrum, the girl who was Valedictorian in the most affluent suburb of Toledo was spectacular. She honored her elementary music teacher and ended her speech with a song that had been taught to the class in 3rd grade. I left the breakfast thinking, “Wow. She could be the next Julie Andrews - or at least the next Anna Kendrick.” The Salutatorian from the same school was not there, but had her father read her speech in her stead. It, too, was spectacular. These are privileged kids, to be sure, but it was easy to see why they were accepted to elite colleges while some of the other kids there were not.