Student graduating in 3 years can't be val...what do you think?

Parents Forum
41

<p>Looks like the trophies were for chess. Here's her bio from the distirct web site:</p>

<p>Anjali Datta, GHS Valedictorian--Three-Year
Parents: Deepak and Shraboni Datta of Grapevine</p>

<p>• Candidate for Presidential Scholars Program
• Founder and President of Mu Alpha Theta, GHS chapter
• Captain of GHS World Quest team
• Accomplished Chess player and represented the U.S. in World Youth Chess Championships in Crete and Greece
• Volunteer Chess coach at Southlake and Colleyville Library Chess Clubs
• Attended GCISD schools for four years: Cross Timbers and Grapevine High</p>

<p>Anjali plans to major in Biomedical Engineering as a Dedman Distinguished Scholar at the University of Texas in Austin. She hopes to obtain a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering or a M.D./PhD. with the objective of a career in research in academia or industry. Anjali notes that she has had many excellent teachers in GCISD, including Angela Annis, Stephanie Bakintas, Dave Parson and Ann Turpin.</p>

42

<p>^^Wow, that's impressive! I hope she continues her passion for sciences in college and beyound and keeps playing chess.</p>

43

<p>Her acomplishments ARE impressive. That's why it is so tragic that her family is making such a big deal about whether she gets a one year state school tuition scholarship. Isn't having the highest GPA in school history enough? I know that when I was in law school, we all knew the name of the girl who had the highest grades ever, even though she had graduated before we arrived. She should be thrilled that she'll be a legand at the school.</p>

44

<p>I can't for the life of me understand why anyone cares in a situation like this. It makes everyone look bad to be discussing it.</p>

<p>Re the discrimination issue: A friend of mine was one of two African-Americans in his 1974 Ft. Worth high school class. He and his siblings constituted 50% of the Af-Am students in the school. Halfway through his senior year, when it was apparent that he was going to have the highest grades in the class, the school announced that it was changing its valedictorian formula to include SATs as well as grades. Surprise! That made him #2. He resented it, of course, but didn't make any kind of stink. He liked the new #1 perfectly well, and he knew that kid desperately wanted the UT scholarship, while he desperately wanted to get the hell out of Texas. (He went to Harvard.) He wound up back in Texas, though, where his wealthy, athletic, academically-successful, Harvard-triple-legacy kids didn't give a hoot whether they were valedictorians either.</p>

45

<p>The only val-sal manouvering that has upset me is when a local school tried to withdraw special services from a kid with a neurological disorder, when it became apparent that he was probably going to be sal.</p>

46

<p>It took me a minute to figure out why the girl didn't list "National Merit Finalist", when all of the other district vals and sals did....duh..she's a junior...they haven't been named for her class yet!</p>

47

<p>I find it deeply offensive when self-appointed grade point analysts casually toss in a slighting reference to course offerings of lower status than physics, chemistry or any subject whose figurings cannot be accomplished with the God-given digits. Please stop bashing basketweaving. </p>

<p>You know who you are. </p>

<p>Some of us have loved ones who weave,..</p>

48

<p>In California, they didn't name a Valedictorian in our school district, as it isn't good for the kids to be "competitive". Of course, their opinion was different on the football field....</p>

49

<p>Rorosen, my son has a lot of friends who took AP Art History, thinking it would be an easy path to a highly weighted A. They were pretty much right 1st semester....but 2nd semester ate their lunch.</p>

50

<p>
[quote]
In California, they didn't name a Valedictorian in our school district, as it isn't good for the kids to be "competitive".

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Good for you. I wish my district superintendant were as wise as yours.</p>

51

<p>Coolweather, you MISSED my point! They name MVPs in all sorts of sports, but when it came to academics, they refused to name an MVP. Lame. (don't get me wrong, I would have not qualified at all!)</p>

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<p>Missypie, where did it say she was getting a full ride to UT? The Dedman scholarship is not a full ride. I thought the paper implied it was costing her the Valedictorian full ride....</p>

53

<p>But will she apply to G.P.A University as a safety?</p>

54

<p>Bandnerd, you are right...I must have heard that from another source (or imagined it.)</p>

55

<p>With a 36 on the ACT, she just might be, but nowhere do they state that. I can't see the huge distress over $2000, although that is a lot of money. Also, she will be named a National Merit Finalist next year and begin receiving the benefits from UT($3000/year) then. I have a friend that graduated early and that is how the NM people handled it. I feel sorry for her. Somewhere along the way she was misinformed. The paper said the GC encouraged her to do this, but neglected to mention the pitfalls. I can easily see how a public school GC could be off course like that.</p>

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<p>Bandnerd - Sport MVPs deserve the title because they compete with players outside of school to make your school stand out. Val & sal only compete inside school and this is unhealthy.</p>

57

<p>Here's what the state scholarship gives: Tuition during both semesters of the first regular session immediately following the student's high school graduation. Fees are not covered. For UT, that would be worth around $8600. Not an unwelcome chunk of change. The Dedman Scholarhip is worth around $10,000 for 4 years ($10,000 was last year's amount; don't know if it went up.)</p>

58

<p>I know someone who got NMF as a "junior" based on her sophomore PSATs. She graduated after her junior year, so I guess she knew along she was doing that and declared that somehow on her PSAT.</p>

59

<p>Maybe she should have "skipped llth grade" instead of "graduating a year early"and thereby join the next class higher, socially. </p>

<p>Like in the musical, "Suddenly Senior." (..Suddenly Seymour..)</p>

<p>In our district, that's how a 3-year student proceeds. HOWEVER, by so doing they no longer receive a class rank, so if anyone's close to being Val, it's not a great move to make.</p>

<p>You can't have it all.</p>

<p>I can't take this problem too seriously.</p>

<p>Our older 2 kids went to a different school system with unweighted GPA's. This rewarded non-AP students into the Top l0 Ranked kids in the class, complete with parades in the town. </p>

<p>I came to appreciate it, however, because in that particular community it rewarded a lot of hardworking students from a wider range of backgrounds. </p>

<p>Unfortunately, it also make some bright lights game the system by dropping their AP's and Honors for regular courses ones, simply to get A's and never an A-minus. I'm sure they learned that much less, and were surely capable of AP or Honors classwork. </p>

<p>And there was some wretched fight among 4 parents as to who was #1 Ranked (all unweighted). Four co-valedictorians (yawn, short speeches x 4).</p>

<p>We steered clear of it, or rather, our kids' grades didn't put them in the running for that kind of problem. One kid who got double-800's on SAT's and went to Harvard was ranked 9th in his class, for example. The school only offered one AP, anyway, in Chemistry, but numerous HOnors courses -- all had no bearing on GPA and class rank.</p>

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<p>Rorosen, you don't get it, do you? Basket weaving is for chumps. It's Underwater Basket weaving for the Vals, the Sals, the top performing kids who are going to go on to do bio-medical research with PhD/MD's while their duller compatriots staff the help desks of banks, insurance companies, and cellular phone companies.</p>

<p>Get it? It's like when the parent of an IB student explains that your kid is clearly a moron if they're taking a traditional HS curriculum. Or when the parent of a kid in the Gifted and Talented program accuses you of being an elitist for putting your kid in parochial school (never mind that the parochial school is highly diverse.... ethnic, race, income, and the GT program is Lily White and filled with children of corporate execs.) Geez. Like your basket weaving could be as hard as mine! Which is UNDERWATER for Pete's sake.</p>