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The end of the valedictorian? Schools rethink class rankings
WTNH Television ^ | 06/16/2017 | Puppage

Posted on 06/16/2017 7:44:03 AM PDT by Puppage

At many American high schools, the graduation-day tradition of crowning a valedictorian is becoming a thing of the past.

(Excerpt) Read more at wtnh.com ...


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: clickbait
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To: SkyDancer
Knocking the achievers down because they can’t bring the underachievers up.

It's the same logic as economic Marxism: their programs can't lift the poor out of poverty, but they can sure impoverish everyone else.

Interestingly, one way in which Communists in the Soviet Union and its satellites differed from Western Communists is that they did make an effort to maintain high academic standards. Rather than "everyone's a winner," the attitude was that those who did well in school could become engineers or scientists, those who didn't would go and dig ditches and mop floors. Today's Leftists don't even seem to grasp that concept.

21 posted on 06/16/2017 8:17:37 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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To: Puppage

Guess it is OK. They are not taught anything in school these days. Everyone could be the top in his or her classes. Who cares?


22 posted on 06/16/2017 8:19:23 AM PDT by mulligan
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To: ThePatriotsFlag

> Why can’t we just have winners anymore?

My 6 yo grandson was at his karate class competition a few months back.
In his age group they give all the kids trophies.
When he was called in front of the sensei, the sensei held the trophy out to him and he told the sensei, “No, Thank you. I didn’t earn it, so it doesn’t mean anything. It’s a poop-trophy.” The sensei kept the trophy.

I liked his term, poop-trophy, and I was proud of him.


23 posted on 06/16/2017 8:21:03 AM PDT by BuffaloJack
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To: Puppage

“The end of the valedictorian? Schools rethink class rankings”

This will allow every student in the future to say, “I could have probably made valedictorian but the school dropped the honor.”


24 posted on 06/16/2017 8:22:12 AM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: Puppage
Is this really about putting the smart kids in their place because they think that being singled out as the best lets them use their graduation speech to say unapproved thoughts to the other graduates and their families?

-PJ

25 posted on 06/16/2017 8:25:57 AM PDT by Political Junkie Too (The 1st Amendment gives the People the right to a free press, not CNN the right to the 1st question.)
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To: Puppage

"Mediocre! Mediocre! Mediocre!"
26 posted on 06/16/2017 8:27:00 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Puppage

I graduated in the mid-70’s. We had two valedictorians and one salutatorian. The difference was the two females passed on taking a geometry class where the teacher would not give a grade above A- due to his private standard. The male salutatorian took the class and received a B+. It was a lesson in making sure you consider wether your private stances adversely impact others.

I never liked high school and ranked it right up there with prison and nursing homes as places you would like to avoid. If graduation ceremonies were eliminated it would be fine with me.


27 posted on 06/16/2017 8:28:29 AM PDT by alternatives? (Why have an army if there are no borders?)
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To: originalbuckeye

Otherwise you have the “students” taking the easy “cake courses” scoring higher than the ones taking the the harder courses. Cake courses are no higher than general math.


28 posted on 06/16/2017 8:30:47 AM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: ek_hornbeck
"Today's Leftists don't even seem to grasp that concept."

Because they were educated(?) in a liberal college/university

29 posted on 06/16/2017 8:33:29 AM PDT by SkyDancer (You know they invented wheelbarrows to teach FAA inspectors to walk on their hind legs.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

My niece’s h.s graduating class in Colfax, CA had 16 valedictorians (among a graduating class of about 90). Thankfully, only one was chosen to speak.


30 posted on 06/16/2017 8:38:10 AM PDT by Mrs.Liberty
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To: SkyDancer

The next trend will be not keeping score at HS football games


31 posted on 06/16/2017 8:39:12 AM PDT by Midnitethecat
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To: Puppage

Quit calling them schools. They’re babysitting and indoctrination centers.


32 posted on 06/16/2017 8:40:35 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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To: yarddog

When I was in highschool, they graded us from 0-100. The valedictorian was either 10p or close to it.

I think it was easier to figure out the top student.


33 posted on 06/16/2017 8:54:30 AM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: riverdawg
In large high schools with a substantial upper-middle-class student population, there might be 10 or more graduating students with a 4.0+ average in a college-prep/AP curriculum.

In my son's graduating class there were 7 of 35 with 4.0 GPA. The valedictorian was selected based on weighted GPA, with AP and concurrent college classes on a 5.0 scale.

I will say that grades were not handed out like candy and it was an unusual/exceptional class. At least 4 of the 7 scored 33+ on the ACT (perfect = 36), and they were all fighting to squeeze as many AP and college classes as possible into their schedules. There were three up for academic all-state (top 100 in the state), with one selected (not the valedictorian.)

Sometimes when you're dealing with small sample sizes, you get some big fluctuations.

34 posted on 06/16/2017 8:56:05 AM PDT by Gil4 (And the trees are all kept equal by hatchet, ax and saw)
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To: ek_hornbeck
School (and university) administrators around the country have decided that the self-esteem of precious snowflakes is more important than academic standards.

I criticized the revamping of the biology curriculum in the NYC high schools years ago. They turned it from biology to "Living Environment" and cut out a lot except for libtard interests: DNA technology and ecology. Instruction about bones, muscles, eyes, flower anatomy---real biology---was eliminated. I remember remarking that this new "biology" course was more like "How do you FEEL about biology" than real science. No wonder the graduates entering college have to take remedial biology courses and a host of other remedial courses--costing the full price of college tuition but not contributing any graduation credits.

Pathetic.

35 posted on 06/16/2017 8:56:07 AM PDT by EinNYC
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To: Puppage

I failed Latin around 10th grade.

It just occurred to me a few months ago that I still use things I learned in that class despite failing it.

I remember Miss Emmabelle Jones telling me she would give me an A on any assignment if I would just bring one in for a change.


36 posted on 06/16/2017 9:11:00 AM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: Fred Hayek

I will admit that no student taking ‘cake courses’ ended up in the top 20. They DID, at one point, rank the top students in order of their GPAs, starting at 4 and going up. There were about 20 in that level. I don’t remember how many kids were in his class.


37 posted on 06/16/2017 9:12:54 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: EinNYC

Math classes have apparently gone the same direction. Rather than solving/deriving equations, students write or talk about how math makes them feel.


38 posted on 06/16/2017 9:20:49 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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To: originalbuckeye

When I was in high school (class of 1973), the valedictorian was the girl who took the cake courses and aced them. Of course she went on to a liberal arts college, and had a skull full of mush. The “heavy head trip” in schools was just starting. This was IMHO the precursor to political correctness.


39 posted on 06/16/2017 9:22:52 AM PDT by Fred Hayek (The Democratic Party is now the operational arm of the CPUSA)
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To: FES0844

Trophies for everyone! No one is a loser here at Snowflake High, home of the fighting Pansies!


40 posted on 06/16/2017 10:06:28 AM PDT by sarge83
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