<p>I have read posts from kids who say that their school doesnt rank. For those of you who attend such schools, does it bother you? It seems to me, that if someone has worked the hardest in a class .they should have the honor of saying they are number 1 am I wrong??</p>
<p>I go to such a school... I too was pretty annoyed when they did away with it (the change was recent.) But I've found that we take care of our own. Though I am not officially ranked, my guidance counselor's rec. says that I am first in my class... Same with the salutatorian. So if you worked hard enough to attain one of those two spots, at least in my school, they reward you. However, I still feel badly for the rest of the top 5 percent or so of my calss. But everyone here has their own opinions. The vast majority of kids who wouldn't benefit from the information are fine without it.</p>
<p>Yes, I think you are wrong. My school doesn't rank and I'm fine with that. Part of me would like to know exactly where I stand, but I already have a general idea of what percentile I'm in and thats all I need. The problem I have with one person being number 1 is that there is probably no number 1. I think there are a lot of people who work equally hard and end up with the same GPA or some people who don't work that hard but still have amazing grades and people who work really hard and only have average grades. I just find it hard to see how one person can be number one since I look at my group of friends and a lot of us have the exact same GPA (which is above 4.0) and some people have a slightly higher one but I'm not quite sure if in my class there is one person who has the highest GPA. GPA just doesn't always measure who is working hardest, but I guess it doesn't always indicate the smartest person necessarily either. I'm not quite sure if I'm making any sense in this, but basically I disagree with you.</p>
<p>umm, at my school they only rank valedictorian and salutatorian... and my average is five hundredths of a point less than the salutatorian (the difference is almost exactly one point, in one class, out of all the classes we've taken in high school). So yeah, it bugs me a little bc i'm obviously #3. But i do think that ranking hurts a lot more people than it helps, so i understand why they do away with it.</p>
<p>Unfortunately when schools rank, students tend to focus more on class stratification than actually learning. Grades reflect a person's commitment: not rank. Rank is merely an elitist tool... it's a form of bureaucratic Darwinism if you will.</p>
<p>(I was valedictorian at a very small school)</p>
<p>Yeah ranking can be annoying.
For example, at my school I am #4.
The kids who are 1, 2, 3, and 5 all went to summer school and paid $700 a course to accumulate extra Honors Credits and therefore raised their GPA.
So I'm the only one with the "all-natural" GPA.
yay</p>
<p>yeah my school only ranks the top 10% but they dont announce it until the end of the year. but when filling out college forms they will tell the school if you are in top 10. (my school has about 95 ppl so only 10 ppl make it every year). im 4th i think and i have a 7.75/8 gpa. I HATE OUR GPA SYSTEM.</p>
<p>I think that saying that ranking is wrong might have moral merit... but I think its sugar-coating real life for us... People are going to go through their lives with ranks of all kinds. Income ranks within a company, etc... I think this is just preparing us for the real world as much as anything whether these ranks are deserved intellectually or not. </p>
<p>ohh miss zanna... that kind of culture is when ranking gets out of hand, I'd have to agree. At my school its not that bloodthirsty. Nobody spends extra money or manipulates the system. But I can see how that could happen. So I guess I don't really know where I stand on the issue.</p>
<p>Yes, ranking also does not take into account the opportunities available to particular students. For instance, suppose there are two students, who share an indentical potential for intellectual growth. One student; however, is a member of a destitute family and does not have access to outside resources. The other student is from an affluent family and can afford to attend summer camps, hire tutors, and participate in course preps. Therefore the student from the affluent family will probably have a higher GPA than the one from the destitute one, despite sharing the same potential and capability. Evidently, economic factors are unfair advantages. Obviously, I do not have statistics to prove my point, but I'm willing to suppose that a considerable amount of valedictorians are middle-class and above.</p>
<p>Everything is relative, including opportunities.</p>
<p>Yeah, but often school systems are grouped by socioeconomic class. One smart kid's resources are likely to be similar to other smart kids' resources in the same school system. Right?</p>
<p>Rank can be kind of annoying. My school is pretty big (rougly 6000 kids), and it's still above average for a public so we have quite a few kids who are bright. It's hard to stand out, it's hard to get your college counselor's attention, and most all, it's a pain in the butt when 30 kids in your class are applying to Yale, Harvard or Princeton. Uggh!!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yeah, but often school systems are grouped by socioeconomic class. One smart kid's resources are likely to be similar to other smart kids' resources in the same school system. Right?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not in my case.
I go to a school in a relatively poor area where most families are on welfare.
But we are a quasi-magnet school that has specialized academies in addition to the normal high school that attract kids from across the district.
The kids on the other side of the district are from wealthy, affluent families many of which that have both parents as doctors.</p>
<p>Ok then I guess my comment doesn't apply to the general... but least in my town almost everyone is affluent. And you know, sometimes I think its detrimental to their studies. They just assume their parents' success will transfer on to them. I think sometimes adversity can be a motivator, don't you?</p>
<p>My school doesn't rank, and nobody wants it to, or else there would be widespread carnage. Plus, people wouldn't take classes like band or orchestra or choir because they're never weighted. Also, it's a really well-achieving school with a lot of super-motivated kids; they don't need ranks to tell them how good their grades are. Instead, people focus on ECs once they get the grades they want, and we have great club and activity involvement.</p>
<p>Yeah I took orchestra which is one of the non-honor classes in my school
Which is actually a discouragement for a lot of people to take
I find this really stupid because it's basically punishing you for having talent and being able to take orchestra, band, choir, or any of the sports</p>
<p>I totally agree with what you guys are saying about being discouraged from taking classes in the arts because of the effect it has on GPA. My school ranks, and honestly, it really sucks. However, I can't say that I know I'd like it any better if we didn't rank. Most kids in my school (which is not private, magnet, or special at all) don't really care about their GPAs or class rank, mainly because a large majority of them end up going to community colleges. But for the kids in the top 10-15% of the class, the competition is ridiculously violent.</p>
<p>My school ranks and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's the most exact way to keep track of your progress relative to the other students in your class. Plus, colleges generally prefer being able to see an exact rank per class size, as it gives a much more accurate picture of the student's grades relative to the class average. Exact rank particularly benefits me because my current rank is 7 in a class of 318. In schools that don't rank, I would be placed in the top decile (top 10%), which could mean any spot between 1 and 31. However, an exact rank shows a much higher percentile (7/318 = top 2.2%).</p>
<p>My school doesn't rank because it is a magnet school, so it would be unfair for them to compare people who have gotten into a school due to talent and intelligence.</p>
<p>My school doesn't rank or weight grades. It totally sucks. I'm pretty sure if we did rank with our unweighted grades, I'd be #2. The only girl left who has a 4.0 in our grade has never taken an honors or AP class and spends her schedule being a teacher assistant. I've taken the most AP's, gotten the best grades in my entire class and the only thing I have to show for it is a Top 1% ranking. I'm jealous of all you who have ranking.</p>
<p>My school actually holds band classes right after school, and chorus in the morning. Therefore, kids that do these activities actually get free 100s added into their GPAs.</p>