Only one valedictorian? Not anymore...

[F4Gary]

How about 21 Valedictorians in a one graduating class.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/02/18660734-were-all-no-1-is-21-valedictorians-too-many?lite

 

[NoleManDan17]

Everybody gets a ribbon!

 

[NoleFan2U]

The wussification of America continues.

 

[rustyb93]

Give 'em all a juice box as they walk across the stage.

 

[AllNoles]

Seems when 10% of the class is V then they are grading poorly. But what about schools with a 500 person graduating class? It's not that hard to imagine 3-5 kids taking every possible advanced class and getting all As; thus having identical GPAs. 27 is hard to fathom though. That does smack of everyone gets a trophy.

I do wonder when some schools went away from pluses and minuses. Just having As, Bs, etc., and having A be 90-100 does leave a lot of room for more identical grades. When I was a kid (and trudged in the snow uphill to and from school every day), A was 94-100 and it was broken into A+, A and A-.

 

[wbnolefan]

you miss one question on a 10th grade home ec quiz and you are relegated to salutatorian and a measly 4.48 GPA

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

Grade inflation is rampant. Today's teachers know these kids are scrapping for college admissions and scholarship money. So all (or certainly more) ties go to the runner. In the old days, teachers were more willing to give you the "B" you deserved because it generally would not affect your college admission, or disqualify you from getting a scholarship you desperately needed.

Also, the bottom quarter of today's classes represent a new breed of lows. The kids on that end of the spectrum are generally a mess. This makes the smart kids seem even brighter, by comparison, and also further prompts the teachers to give the bright kids a further benefit of the doubt. "Oh, hell, if I'm giving Derrick a C- just to shuffle him along, how can I give Julie a B+?.....Julie gets an A."

 

[OrlandNole]

It's all part of a grade inflation trend. B-students have been sporting GPAs north of 4.0 for years now.

 

[jeffy]

Remember when Rivals used to rank recruits as 1 and 2 stars?

 

[MathisJones]

you miss one question on a 10th grade home ec quiz and you are relegated to salutatorian and a measly 4.48 GPA

Lol, this nearly happened to me. We had 4 kids vying for the top spot in my class. The difference between 2nd (not me) & 3rd (me) was a geometry question in 10th grade.

Worst part of it? The question I got "wrong" I was actually right. It was one of those logic questions:

All birds have wings.
The Spruce Goose has wings.
Therefore, the Spruce Goose is a bird.

Clearly that's not true, I marked it as such, but the teacher counted it as incorrect. I argued for the longest time about it to no avail. That one question would've upped my geometry grade a point, & that point would've put me in 2nd place in my class.

It really didn't concern me as much as just knowing I was right. I got into college with grants and scholarships and all that jazz, and I don't think 3rd vs 2nd made that big a deal in the long run.

 

[F4Gary]

I can see it now, during a job interview.

"Says here you were valedictorian of your class. What did the salutatorian think about that?"

"I don't know, he was too far back in the line to talk to him..."

 

[fsugrad]

http://www.ocala.com/article/20150604/OPINION/150609886. Only 21 valedictorians? Ocala Vanguard HS just graduated 27 valedictorians. Their logic: everyone who had a 5.0 gpa is a valedictorian. 5.0 is straight A's thru AP/IB courses. Ok, that's great but how about a tie breaker like who of the 27 had highest SAT score or something??

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Or outside of school accomplishments?

 

[F4Gary]

http://www.ocala.com/article/20150604/OPINION/150609886. Only 21 valedictorians? Ocala Vanguard HS just graduated 27 valedictorians. Their logic: everyone who had a 5.0 gpa is a valedictorian. 5.0 is straight A's thru AP/IB courses. Ok, that's great but how about a tie breaker like who of the 27 had highest SAT score or something??

Thunder Dome! 27 valedictorians enter, 1 remains!

 

[NolegirlY2K]

http://www.ocala.com/article/20150604/OPINION/150609886. Only 21 valedictorians? Ocala Vanguard HS just graduated 27 valedictorians. Their logic: everyone who had a 5.0 gpa is a valedictorian. 5.0 is straight A's thru AP/IB courses. Ok, that's great but how about a tie breaker like who of the 27 had highest SAT score or something??

We had two with perfect GPAs before "shared" valedictorian, they went back to their finals and midterms to determine whose grades were higher.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

http://www.ocala.com/article/20150604/OPINION/150609886. Only 21 valedictorians? Ocala Vanguard HS just graduated 27 valedictorians. Their logic: everyone who had a 5.0 gpa is a valedictorian. 5.0 is straight A's thru AP/IB courses. Ok, that's great but how about a tie breaker like who of the 27 had highest SAT score or something??

The leadership at Vanguard has always been very "inclusive" in its thinking. Having 27 valedictorians is ludicrous, and simply minimizes the distinction. Sad.

 

[Nole Daddy]

It is so sad.

 

[BOwens21]

When I was in school they used average number grade to break ties. It seems pretty easy to do. We also didn't have any GPAs higher than 4.0. It wasn't possible.

 

[OrlandNole]

We also didn't have any GPAs higher than 4.0. It wasn't possible.

When you hear You've got to have close to a 4.0 to get into so-and-so college, you're still talking about a student who probably get's as many or more Bs as A.

 

[ShaolinNole]

All the parents should create a tunnel with their outstretched arms and have all the valedictorians run through it to pick up their ribbons!

 

[cmanole]

Went to my daughter's graduation Saturday and there was only one. I feel cheated...

 

[Nole Lou]

Just went to my daughter's graduation, and 120 of the 600 kids had 4.0+. But they only had on valedictorian...I'm assuming they went to actual number grades in the classes to determine. My daughter had an unweighted 4.0, but she had quite a few 90-92s, and I have to imagine there were some kids who all had 98s and 99s. I don't think my daughter was in the top 50 of the class.

She did have at least one grade "inflated". This year she took calculus, got an 82 the first semester, and worked hard and got a 96. The teacher said she found an "extra point" somewhere. It didn't matter for anything really, my daughter already has college lined up, but the teacher just wanted to reward her for the hard work. My daughter was kind of happy to have ended with a 4.0 even though it didn't matter. She hadn't had to take calculus if she didn't want to, so I didn't mind seeing her rewarded for challenging herself.