High Schools Make Room at Top for Grads

The story from the Washington Post dealing with multiple valedictorians is justanother example of how far we have gone to coddle our most intelligent children, protecting them from the rigors of comeptition because we don't want to damage their self-esteem. But there are other reasons as well, everything from gaming the system to fear of lawsuits.

A growing number of schools, such as Robinson, bestow the title on every graduate who earns a grade-point average of 4.0 or higher. Montgomery and Howard county schools have done away with the distinction to ease competition in a system that was producing increasingly more 4.0 students. Other districts -- Prince George's and Loudoun counties, Alexandria and the District included -- have stuck with the traditional route: Pick one valedictorian and a salutatorian. (Unless a tie forces a few students to share the glory.)

The push for multiple valedictorians began years ago, prompted by concerns that high school had become too competitive -- so competitive that a few students seeking the title filed lawsuits. As more students enrolled in weighted advanced classes and earned grade-point averages far above 4.0, educators wondered whether it was fair to single out one teenager. There was concern a student would take a less challenging class to guarantee an A or take on an unreasonable workload of weighted classes to boost a GPA.

As far as students gaming the system, this is not surprising. My wife's cousin scored a better GPA in high school than my wife, by taking less challenging courses. Thus she scored better on tests, got better grades, accumulated a better GPA than my wife, and graduated higher in their class. So gaming the system is an ageold problem.

However, lawsuits over valedictorian rules are certainly a more recent development. No doubt the reason for the lawsuits is the change in the rules in mid-stream.

If the reason for having multiple is because of the competition such an award engenders, this may be the dumbest reason of all.

Meier said that in a school as big as Robinson Secondary, which had 687 graduates this year, it would be a shame to single out only one high-achieving student.

"The competition is very, very steep to be shortstop or to be the lead in the class play," Meier said. "But when you have 30 or 40 people who have a GPA over 4.0, this is a way to recognize all of them."

Competition is apparently okay in sports, or drama. But it is not okay in academic pursuits?

When these students at the top of the high school class move on to college and beyond, there will be instense competition in those places. Without experiencing failure or losing a coveted award, these students are sure to break down, and at what cost then?

The whole world is competitive, learning that early on will only help children.

Burgess, who is headed to Columbia University in the fall, remembers sitting down with a friend in ninth grade and telling him that she intended to become valedictorian. From that day on, she worked toward that goal.

For instance, there was the time Burgess needed a 95 percent or better on a world history paper to get an A in the class. She wanted that A. So she hunkered down and turned in a 26-page paper instead of the required 12-page paper and "made sure the content was immaculate."

During her graduation speech, Burgess told her classmates that they should be focused, too. "I talked about how you have to really know what you want and set your goals," she said. "The theme was nothing happens until you decide."

As you can tell, if the student is driven enough, they will set the necessary goals and do what is necessary to achieve those goals. There is no reason why the top student shouldn't be as honored as the star basketball player, the quarterback of the football team or the prom king and queen.

Competition is healthy, and while there may be multiple winners in some competitions, this is one competition where having multiple winners makes the win meaningless.