Recently, the Wake County school board has decided to do away with valedictorian and salutatorian rankings in high school. It has stirred up some national debate on whether or not it is "healthy" for students to have competition to be first or second in their graduating class.
My sister was valedictorian of her graduating class and she went on to do great things with her life; she is one of my biggest role models. I love telling people that she was valedictorian maybe a little too much. I know that a lot of students at NCSU were valedictorians of their graduating classes as well, and you know what, we shouldn't take that away from them.
Sure, all of us took some AP classes in high school because we knew that it would help our GPA. So what? Competition within academics is not something that can be eliminated and celebrating those who achieved highest in their class is not something that is hurting our students. In the "real" world, the working world, competition is everywhere. If we all weren't working toward some goal, whether it be valedictorian or just losing 10 pounds, then what would be the purpose of life? Why would we wake up every day and put on our big boy and girl pants?
Yes, I do think sometimes competition can turn into greed. Greed is ugly. However, without ugly there wouldn't be any pretty. Without recognizing those who are best we wouldn't know what good hard work is. I understand that the Wake County School Board is viewing this change as a way to encourage students to take classes they're interested in rather than for that GPA boost. Well, I am sorry, but taking classes that you're interested in is what college is for, and frankly, most of the high schools I know of do not have classical mythology as a class.
I loved some of my high school classes and yes, they sparked interests in me that I later pursued in college. However, I did strive to achieve a high GPA and do well because I know that is how our society is. I was competitive and wanted to be the best, but while striving, I was also learning. Isn't learning the goal? So yeah, some students get that extra AP class in there for the points, yet if you're in class working hard, you're also learning. So if you were/are number one in your graduating high school class you deserve some recognition. You deserve the title of valedictorian and you can proudly add it to your resume and maybe even frame that diploma.
