22 valedictorians?

Question:I read in my home town newspaper 22 students were named valedictorians. Am I the only person who finds this a little bit excessive? Valedictorian to me means the #1 honor student.Years ago when I was in school, to be named Valedictorian was a real honor. I have heard all the arguments in favor of having more than one valedictorian: schools consolidationing, scolarship entitlements, collage acceptment chances etc.To all this I say,oh well maybe your child should have tried harder. I fail to understand why the #1 honor for high school student,is now being shared with 21 others. I looked forward to reading who the top honor student is. Over the past years the number of students being named valedictorians has grown and grown.Three years ago there was a record 8, last year 14, now this year 22. Where is all this going to end? In closing, I am not the parent or related in any other way,of a child that had to share the Valedictorian Honor. Jealousy is not the issue here. Post you comments.



Answers:
The sad fact is that "valedictorian" from the vast majority of government schools no longer has the star power it once had. Likewise, "Straight As" has lost its luster. The teachers' unions and administrators have dumbed-down the curriculum, and upped the grades, so that everyone seems to be doing much better than they actually are. Sad to say, but many kids whose parents sport "My Child is an Honor Student at XYZ School" bumper stickers can't spell "honor."

Ask a random selection of recent government high school graduates how to spell "graduates," and you'll be depressed.

If a person wants his child to excel, he must keep his child out of the vast majority of government schools. Otherwise, the child will graduate with lots of baseless self esteem, and nothing much more, and will face a life of constant frustration because his accomplishments in the real world will never live up to the accolades lavished on him in school. Send the child to an excellent private school, or homeschool!
very excessive
Most schools have one valedictorian, a salutorian, and than the top 10 percent of the class. They really should have 1, 2, and then the rest of the honors kids, kinda sucky to say your the valedictorian along with 21 other people, not really the same; just flip a coin or play rock, paper, scissors if there is a tie.
I can't speak for your school, but at my high school the valedictorian is the student with the highest GPA. My class (of about 350) had 4 students with a 4.0 average, so they all got to be valedictorians. They presented a speech titled, "Plato's Commentary on the Material Dielectic" which was actually about stereotypes and prejudice. It was pretty cool.
I, too, think 22 valedictorians is excessive.

I'm a parent of a 6th grader and a 4th grader, so it's not really an issue for us yet, but in our area, the public schools AND private AND parochial schools all have a high number of valedictorians.

They're using AP (Advanced Placement) and Honors courses and giving those kids higher GPAs -- we've got kids graduating around here with GPAs over 4.0 -- I'm talking 4.5, 4.8... because they get more credit for the advanced classes. The incentive to take those classes and do well is that they offer more credit (and you can test out of some college courses).

But, I feel there should be only one valedictorian. If it comes down to it, it should be the person with the highest GPA, the most involvement in extracurriculars and public service... and if there's more than one, draw the name from a hat or something.
I strongly agree. The standards for becoming valedictorian should be raised in such a case. I'll bet you those 22 valedictorians should not have all deserved the honor; a lot of work must be put forth into earning such a magnificent title.
When I graduated, any student who had a cumulative GPA of over 4.00 was valedictorian. The next 25 students in the ranking were The Top 25. They didn't speak at graduation or anything, but they got recognition in the program.

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