Sounds suspiciously like grade-inflation. I find it difficult to believe that there are that many students who are equally matched in perfection. When I was a student, the difference between a Valedictorian and a Salutatorian were grades that were 98.6 and 98.1. But back then, teachers gave real grades, not fuzzy averages that tend to lump students into fewer and fewer academic categories.
I know the speeches are a whole lot better with the students picked by their peers instead of some I sat through with Valedictorians.
In other words, instead of academic competition, it has turned into a popularity contest. Nice work.
They graduate over 400 here and we get out in a little less than two hours which is great!
Of course. It's always more important to get out fast.
Clearly, you are not writing from the perspective of a parent, who doesn't mind sitting through 2 or more hours of their child's graduation ceremony, but from the perspective of a teacher or administrator, who has to sit through what you consider to be tedious ceremonies, time after time after time. And that explains a lot about your post.