<p>Next year my class will be the first to have its average weighted. Now I fully support weighting for advanced classes (AP's/Honors/University in the High School), but my school is going beyond that when they weigh. Here is the new policy for determining the valedictorian/salutatorian:</p>
<p>*Overall GPA (Unweighted out of 100)
*Add 1 point for 9 Honors/AP/UHS, 2 for 10, 3 for 11, 4 for 12, and 5 for 13+.
*Add 0-4 pts for school-related extra cirriculars (ie. sports and clubs). Points will be determined by a 'site-based committee'.
*Add 1pt for 31-50 hrs of community service, 2 pts 51-70, 3 for 71-100, and 4 for 101+</p>
<p>I think that this is kinda dumb that community service and EC's also apply. Valedictorian/salutatorian is supposed to be an academic award and averages should only be weighted for their difficulty. Theoretically, it'll be possible for someone who doesn't take honors classes with a low-mid 90's average, but who does a lot of other stuff to take victory. I mean, unweighted probably no more than a point, maybe 1.5 points separates 1 from 10, yet this new sytem throws away whole points like nothing. Also, having a site-base committee determine EC points seems to biased. GPA should be a pretty scientific process. Oh! And if you're not in good standing with a club you're in, automatically not considered for valedictorian/salutatorian. Right now I'm probably ~5th in my class, but knowing the kids who are ahead of me and directly behind me, I think this system puts me in a front-runner position. But it really depends how the site-base committee decides to distribute those EC points. Anyways, even though my chances of being valedictorian/salutatorian are greatly increased with this system (Almost no way I would have had it before), I still think non-academics should not be counted. Although I will say that I think only one other person in my class will have had as challenging a schedule as me and will probably be my biggest competition for valedictorian/salutatorian.</p>
<p>that;s fricken ridiculous and i think you should most definitely complain to the school board. Tell them that Val/sal are academic honors and extracurricular activities shouldnt be factored in</p>
<p>Too late already. I would fight it, but I'd only be helping the younger classes and I don't care that much. I know teachers complained. The parents I believe really pushed it through. Under this system, the valedictorian may be the best well-rounded student, but I totally think it's supposed to be an academic award and the person who studies all day/night deserves this. After all, that person won't be getting athletic trophies.</p>
<p>at my school the electives will hurt you... Ours is based on a weighted academic GPA (out of 5.0), and electives show up as 4.0 A's. So being involved with band, art, ceramics, dance, theater, chorus, MUN, or journalism will hurt your chances. this also applies for class rank. So our val is always some really introverted kid who has done nothing in high school except go to school, go home, and study (maybe play sports, those aren't academic). Anyway, the speech always really sucks, b/c the val usually has no or little connection to the school and his/her class. </p>
<p>That community service **** is retarded. Val is the person with the highest academic average, period. Making community service a part of it is just adding more hoops to jump through, under the guise of helping the community. Those who help the community should do it for the sake of helping, not a GPA reward. The whole system reeks of hypocrisy. So what if some introverted kid who studies all day is the valedictorian? If he/she has the best GPA, they deserve it.</p>
<p>On the issue of weighted GPA's used to determined rank, how do people who attend school under such a system like it? Does it create pressure to take a million AP's and no non-AP classes? What do people think the best system is?</p>
<p>That's insane. My school doens't rank or do valedictorian and stuff, they just put summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or cum laude next to your name on the graduation program if it applies to you.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that it was a purely academic thing, to be valedictorian.</p>
<p>at my school, any kid who has a cumulative 4.0 gets valedictorian, we have like 10 each year. and im one of them, woo hoo! except it is b.s. b/c people take basketweaving and crap like that and still get valedictorian. whereas i will have taken the hardest course in my class.</p>
<p>Our school's valedictorian is based on a student's character as much as his/her grades...I guess we're kind of weird that way.
We're not even ranked and our grades aren't averaged really into one GPA...they're recorded as individual percentages according to each class (i.e. Math 12- 80%, English 12 - 91%, etc)
I have no clue where I am in relation to the rest of my class. It's kind of less stressful that way, so I'm not disappointed.</p>
<p>Optimus Prime: true, the person that has the best academic record should recieve val... what i'm saying is that often the kid that get has received worse grades than other kids, but the other kids' GPAs are lower because they have received As in so many elective courses, which for some reason, count on your Academic GPA.</p>