<p>As of recent, our county division voted to rid us of the rank system start next year (doesn’t affect me). Its a horrible decision to do so in my opinion. Class rank motivates GPA challenges and competition, and my school is EXTREMELY competitive, thus producing better students because of the number of classes a student must take to get that inflated GPA (extra .17 for every honors taken). Getting rid of the rank system eliminates competition, which is wrong since the entire world revolves around competition. Our county hopes to provide a “fair representation” of all its students, which I find is complete BS. The rank system is fair enough. If your smart, your rewarded. If not, well tough luck. Everyone has a chance, and those who build upon it, should be recognized, not blended into the mix of muck and grime.</p>
<p>My school has class rank, but it’s not very effective. Our school doesn’t weight GPAs, so taking an AP class is worth as much as your general Health and PE class. We have 17 people ranked #1, that’s 17 valedictorians. I would be the only number one if our GPA was weighted.</p>
<p>@almualim I wonder though whether the competitiveness produces better, smarter students or better students at playing the game? While I agree the competition is a great motivator I think going to THAT extreme in general produces hyper competitive students that care less about the material than about the grade they got.</p>
<p>My school ranks, too, but it’s extremely ineffectual. It’s a pretty low-ranked public school, and it draws a huge mix of students, motivation-wise. My friend’s brother has a 1.5 GPA - passing only one academic class - and he’s ranked 75 out of 278.</p>
<p>I would also like to add that competitiveness through the rank system shouldn’t be the primary motivation for students to strive academically - a desire to do one’s personal best should be.</p>
<p>I also plan on writing an article in my school paper about this issue.</p>
<p>I go to a public school with 350 in my class. The three local schools in my area that consistently rank in the top 100 in the country have no ranks. However, we have unweighted ranks, and ironically, we also offer more AP classes than those schools.</p>
<p>Thus, after having taken 15 AP classes throughout high school, I am ranked 9th with a 97 average. As I struggle to get even low 90s in my AP classes, my peers are getting 100s in their lay classes.</p>