When did the definition of "valedictorian" go from "top student by academic order of merit" to "top 15-20% of students"? Seriously, there were 13 valedictorians in a class of 75 at our local school.

This nonsense is alive and well at a local high school. A friend announced that his son was attending a valedictory service. Top percentage was recognized with the title. another example of AYSO-type of trophy..........

quote:

Originally posted by Herknav:
When did the definition of "valedictorian" go from "top student by academic order of merit" to "top 15-20% of students"? Seriously, there were 13 valedictorians in a class of 75 at our local school.

Everybody gets a trophy.

My # 1 grandson was co-valedictorian at his HS last year; there were two of them, the other one being his girl friend.

His younger brother, just a year behind him, graduates this year (day after tomorrow, as a matter of fact). Not valedictorian, but he is a straight A honor student, got some pretty good scholarship help for college, and was the only one on the tennis team to win a trophy.

I'm pretty sure that it's my DNA, even though they're really step-grandsons, no blood relation.

When you have 20 Seniors, each with a GPA of 4.75 on a 4.0 scale,all play 3 sports a year, plus band or choir, along with whatever other activity... How do you choose just one?

Invalidictorians

Maybe the all had the same GPA, which was the highest of graduation class?

quote:

Originally posted by JSB3:
When you have 20 Seniors, each with a GPA of 4.75 on a 4.0 scale,all play 3 sports a year, plus band or choir, along with whatever other activity... How do you choose just one?

this is how that happens.

we had a handful in my class in 2004, it got them exactly what I knew it would. Nothing.

Didn't think they allowed valedictorian anymore After all, you;re hurting the underachiever;s feelz.

When you dumb down education and inflate grades, these things happen.

When I graduated, it was a rare thing for someone to graduate with a 4.0. Nowadays there's usually a dozen or so kids with 4.0s.

Are the kids today that much smarter than we were? Hardly.

My daughter, a junior, has perfect grades and has taken a moderate amount of AP and honors classes, so her GPA is "only" like a 4.35. But her SATs were 1430 (97% percentile). There are a lot of folks out there who think SAT/ACT test results should be discounted, I'd say, not until HS classes "reset" and become competitive again.

My wife, who graduated from the same HS my son is about to graduate from, was top-10 in her class with a 3.8 GPA or so. These days, a 3.8 would put a kid in the middle of the class.

Saw something recently in a news article about a young man, who had lost his father and susequently was "chosen" by his classmates to be valedictorian. I thought it was a typo. Guess not

My wife was the Valedictorian in her Engineering class at Rutgers University with a 4.0 in 1988. She was the first person in 18 years to graduate that program with a 4.0. Now a days, it is common to see a 4.5 and higher in high schools. Sorry to say but on a scale of 1 to 4, a 4.5 is insanity. To get into a good college GPA, extra community activities outside of school, and a good SAT score is included. A high GPA is not much value unless you have a rounded education. My last two kids graduated high school with an average GPA over 4, and I thought that was crazy.

To those criticizing GPAs over 4.0, do you not understand why that is possible, and why some classes are weighted above 4 points?

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
To those criticizing GPAs over 4.0, do you not understand why that is possible, and why some classes are weighted above 4 points?

Yes I do. I work for 2 high school districts. I know what weighted class are. I'm not confused, I see what passes for AP and Honor courses and am not impressed.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:

quote:

Originally posted by iron chef:
To those criticizing GPAs over 4.0, do you not understand why that is possible, and why some classes are weighted above 4 points?

Yes I do. I work for 2 high school districts. I know what weighted class are. I'm not confused, I see what passes for AP and Honor courses and am not impressed.

If you don't think AP and IB Program courses are more academically challenging and deserving of more grade points than say, Cosmetology and elective PE courses, then I infer that to be more of a criticism of your two school districts than the concept of weighting classes' grade points differently.

If you use the 4A/3B/2C/1D/0F scale across the board, then you are much more likely to have scenarios where 20 students are tied for Valedictorian.

If you think HS's should do away w/ Vale & Salutatorian awards, I'd be in favor of that. I agree a well-rounded education is more important than class rank. Individual ranking encourages students to game the system, which is why few universities use it. Summa/Magna/Cum Laude is enough of a distinction, b/c there rarely is an appreciable difference in #1 and #10 in a HS class if they both finished in the Top 2%.

Non-weighted GPA scales can lead to scenarios where 40% of a graduating class ties for Top 10% though. What would you propose as a solution? Distribute grades on a bell curve? That may work in a rigorous university program, but you know everyone in HS would balk.

What I am saying is that if a 3rd track Student has Algebra I, and gets an "A" in that class it is no different than the "A" earned by an AP or Honors student in Algebra I. Colleges just see the "A" and it doesn't matter to them what Algebra I you had. All they see on the transcripts is Algebra I, "A".
I am not comparing a vocational school to a regular high school, although I happen to be employed by a regular high and a vocation high school district.

As the only high school valedictorian of my class, I wonder who delivers the valedictory address if there are multiple contradictory-by-definition valedictorians?

As "iron chef" is in Texas, high school valedictorians in Texas were formerly afforded no tuition fees for their first year of undergraduate studies at a public institution of higher learning in the State of Texas. I curiously ask about how that issue is resolved in Texas if there are now indistinct valedictorians in Texas?

In the strange world of Northern Virginia, I believe class rank and status of "valedictorian" have gone away due (or at least been hugely de-emphasized) to the grade inflation issue. Which makes sense, really.

My wife's sister was the valedictorian of their High School class in 1978.She graduated 4th in her Naval Academy class, her GPA as a woman graduate was not topped for decade.

I just went to my niece's graduation. There was only one valedictorian. My niece was 14th out of 420 students, but was not called a valedictorian.

quote:

Originally posted by rtquig:
What I am saying is that if a 3rd track Student has Algebra I, and gets an "A" in that class it is no different than the "A" earned by an AP or Honors student in Algebra I. Colleges just see the "A" and it doesn't matter to them what Algebra I you had. All they see on the transcripts is Algebra I, "A".
I am not comparing a vocational school to a regular high school, although I happen to be employed by a regular high and a vocation high school district.

While I tend to agree about the honors classes, the AP classes here are different. None of the honors classes at my daughter's high school were eligible for college credit. However, all of the the AP classes had a test and the end of the year and if she got a good score, she received college credit. The AP classes that my daughter took were rigorous; much more time involved to learn the level of detail (AP History, AP English, AP Calculus are a few that stand out in my mind).


Those college credits meant that she could skip a lot of the general classes in college - it also meant she could register for classes before her peers.