<p>One of my kids attended a high school that named a valedictorian; the other attended a high school in the same district that didn’t. (At the latter school, there was a contest for the two graduation speaker spots, based on the speeches themselves.)</p>
<p>The one who attended the school that had a valedictorian did not have the grades to compete for the spot; the other one might have been a candidate if there had been a valedictorian. </p>
<p>But neither would have been willing to make the attempt in any case because it would have meant sacrificing unweighted electives. My daughter was a dedicated member of the school’s symphonic band – an unweighted course that she took for every one of her eight semesters – and my son was interested in taking tech ed and computer science electives, regardless of whether or not they were weighted. These things were more important to them than minute differences in rank, and I think that’s as it should be.</p>
<p>Given that the system has degenerated to the point where kids who are candidates for valedictorian cannot maintain that status without giving up the opportunity to take courses in subjects that truly interest them, I think that the school that did not have a valedictorian had the right idea.</p>