Posted on 05/24/2016 9:55:25 AM PDT by HomerBohn
CARY, N.C. – The Wake County school board believes the decades long tradition of naming class valedictorians and salutatorians creates “unhealthy competition,” so they voted to end the practice.
Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to ban high school principals from recognizing the top students with the titles and move to the Latin system that uses designations including cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude starting in 2018, The News Observer reports.
“We have heard from many, many schools that the competition has become very unhealthy,” board chairman Tom Benton told the news site. “Students were not collaborating with each other the way that we would like them to. Their choice of courses was being guided by their GPA and not their future education plans.”
The board vote on Tuesday was preliminary, and board members are expected to give the proposal final approval at their June 7 meeting. Under the new system, students with GPAs of 4.25 or higher would receive the summa cum laude designation, those between 4.0 and 4.249 would receive the magna cum laude title, and students between 3.75 and 3.99 would earn cum laude recognition.
“I love competition,” Benton said. “But there are competitions that you can measure very correctly and they do spur people on to bigger and better things.
“There are competitions that are much harder to have objective measurements and grading falls into that. You’ve got the subjectivity of grades being determinate.”
The Charlotte Observer noted that other area school districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools don’t seem to agree with Wake County officials, and have no plans to abolish valedictorians.
Several area valedictorians for the class of 2016 expressed mixed views on the change.
“If you’re third or fourth in the class it must really be hard not to get any recognition, but there’s something to be said for the value of academic competition,” Leesville Road High School valedictorian Heather Crew told the News Observer.
“They should in general recognize honors students overall,” East Wake School of Integrated Technology valedictorian Taylor Barr said. “Students who work hard deserve recognition. But students who’ve worked really hard deserve a little more recognition.”
Melody Armistead, who shared the valedictorian title at Wake STEM Early College high school with Richard Marshall, said the “friendly competition” between the two was a key to her academic success.
“We were trying to see if we could top each other,” Armistead said. “If I’m going to be tied with anyone, I really wanted to be tied with Richard. He really gave me a run for my money.”
Knightdale High School valedictorian Jordan Nichols believes the news system could relieve some stress on high achievers.
“If you’re decimals way from being valedictorian or being up there with the valedictorian, that’s a lot of stress on you,” he said. “You’re going to feel like it’s your fault that you’re not number one.”
Fuquay-Varina High School valedictorian Anna Bennett said that eliminating the top-of-the-class recognitions could discourage some students from pushing themselves to be the best, but also noted that, in the bigger scheme of life, class rank is relatively unimportant.
“These are people killing themselves to get into Ivy League colleges,” she said. “School is stressful enough as it is.”
Another name for second place is first loser.
Competition is needed in our young, not this socialist drivel.
Wake is run by dems so what do you expect! It’s not the students it’s the teachers/Admin and county gov!
They can serve coffee to their Chinese and Indian bosses
Summa cum laude equals participation medal.
How are we going to pick out the thousand or so who will accept Trumps offer for $200k to NOT go to college.
I though Darwin was worshiped among liberal think tank types?
Recognizing excellence is overrated. Everyone knows that all great nations are built on merit-less mediocrity.
Did anybody happen to ask the students?
If, not parents of kids who also disagree with the action should organize an independent selection process.
‘Competition has become very unhealthy’
Really, does that mean they are cancelling the football game, the basketball game, the tennis match, the swim meet, the field hockey game? In sports aren’t there are winners and losers. Isn’t that competition? How about cancelling the school play - try outs are competitive.
Didn’t think so. Why is it that the left loonies only want to squash academic pursuits of excellence? rhetorical question
Yes indeedy...
Taller kids will now walk on their knees while shorter kids get lifts in their shoes.
Fat kids will be supplied with corsets.
You aren’t allowed to look at zitty kids at all.
Naturally athletic kids will have one arm tied behind their back while participating in any sport. One leg if it’s soccer or track.
And there’ll be “safe spaces” supplied, at tax payer expense” for all of these “special” kids.
How is this a good move? To the extent that schools are preparing students for life, a life in which they will be competing for jobs and career success, how is this a good move??
As they compete for jobs and other career moves, they will be in competitions in which there is only one winner and multiple people who fell short. That’s life. So we are going to have angst that there can be only one valedictorian among a group of very bright students??? Really????
“Students were not collaborating with each other the way that we would like them to.”
“The smart students weren’t doing the work for the stupid and slack like they are going to have to do in real life.....”
I do not have any kids grandkids or anyone in Wake county....but somebody there needs to stand up and tell these yay-hoos to go eff themselves....
So when students from that school district are rejected by colleges will they complain?
Well, I didn’t graduate “cum laude” and it has not caused me one minutes loss of sleep, or self esteem.
Just because I didn’t study as hard as the valedictorian does mean I didn’t shake his hand and congratulate him.
I’ve always had good, well-paying jobs, and at no time has any prospective employer turned me down because I wasn’t the valdictorium.
The only person damaged by NC’s ruling is the kids that try harder to get the title.
Life is like the old westerns, there’s always going to be a “faster gun”. Life after school is over is dog eat dog, riddled with “unfairness” and “competition”.
Schools/colleges are supposed to preparing students to survive in the real world. No one is going to pamper them out there. There are no “safe spaces”.
North Carolina educational folks are well off the mark with this foolish ruling. If the kid works hard for it, and succeeds, he/she should be well rewarded. Other than “competition”, it gives incentive to the other students to try harder...if they want to.
“We have heard from many, many schools that the competition has become very unhealthy,” board chairman Tom Benton told the news site.”
Yeah? And Tom Benton, idiot extraordinaire, you’ll probably hear from many, many schools they should not do a thing and still get paid as well.
“Life is like the old westerns, there’s always going to be a ‘faster gun’.”
Princess riverdawg learned this in high school when she was salutatorian rather than valedictorian. It taught her a then-much-needed lesson in humility and self-awareness that served her well in college. She knew she was not likely to be the smartest student in the class, but she wasn’t going to let anyone out-work her.
If your not first, your last. BORB
If you really think this stuff matters enough to get upset about it, try some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
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