Does anyone think this situation is unfair?

[DisneyMomx7]

I guess I just don't understand how this one girls "ranking" hurts the other students? I do know its totally sad to think that they can't show some kindness to a fellow class member who seems to have triumphed over such odds~ If I were their parents I would be mortified to have raised such a selfish kid~

ITA. My ds's all graduated with honors, were in the NHS, ranked high, great scholarships etc. I would have felt sick if they even thought of joining in something like that. I'm sure that girl worked really hard, even with learning disabilities. She should be made to feel proud, not made to feel like she is taking something away from the "smarter" students.

Very sad.

 

[Bren's Mom]

ITA. My ds's all graduated with honors, were in the NHS, ranked high, great scholarships etc. I would have felt sick if they even thought of joining in something like that. I'm sure that girl worked really hard, even with learning disabilities. She should be made to feel proud, not made to feel like she is taking something away from the "smarter" students.

Very sad.

I agree.

I'd be exceptionally proud if my child were one of those NHS students who stood up and said no, he won't protest, won't accept having the special ed student pushed out of her rightful ranking based on the existing rules.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My feeling in NY is the SAT/ACT have more weight than rank. I don't know about Texas, but do you have schools that have a senior class of 60 or less and then schools that have 900 seniors? I guess what I'm trying to say is how do you know how Student 60 out of 60 seniors would rank in that class of 900? I know some students aren't good test takers and have to keep repeating the SAT's but that seems like the test that is nationally accepted.

My cousin went to Harvard and he was in the top 10 of his class, but not 1 or 2 which seem to be the most sought after. Very high SAT/ACT scores though!

Good luck to your freshman. I'm glad we are finally out of the high school years. Hello college expenses!!!

Here in the Midwest schools cannot even compete with you guys on the east coast. We are so far behind academically.

Many schools here don't even have AP in HS or they only have honors which ONLY apply to the kids in the gifted program. So many kids are left behind in that regard.

It is a big mess imo. Heck MO just NOW complied with the National regulations for upping the graduation credits. It was the last yr and they were forced into it.

So rank here is used as a tool because schools are unfair across the board with regard to taking classes that would allow you to do well on the SAT/ACT tests.

 

[mousey]

Here in the Midwest schools cannot even compete with you guys on the east coast. We are so far behind academically.

Many schools here don't even have AP in HS or they only have honors which ONLY apply to the kids in the gifted program. So many kids are left behind in that regard.

It is a big mess imo. Heck MO just NOW complied with the National regulations for upping the graduation credits. It was the last yr and they were forced into it.

So rank here is used as a tool because schools are unfair across the board with regard to taking classes that would allow you to do well on the SAT/ACT tests.

This is very interesting to me. Now I see why the rank is considered a tool in your state. Sometimes I think NY has too high of standards and the math/science requirements make it very difficult for a struggling student to even graduate. I have friends who have had to hire a tutor just so their child could complete the graduation requirements.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

This is very interesting to me. Now I see why the rank is considered a tool in your state. Sometimes I think NY has too high of standards and the math/science requirements make it very difficult for a struggling student to even graduate. I have friends who have had to hire a tutor just so their child could complete the graduation requirements.

Well since MO has been forced to comply with the graduation requirements hopefully we will be seeing some more postive changes coming.

Now we moved into a school district that has AP and more competitive but many schools in the area are still behind, clinging to the old ways.

 

[jodifla]

ITA. My ds's all graduated with honors, were in the NHS, ranked high, great scholarships etc. I would have felt sick if they even thought of joining in something like that. I'm sure that girl worked really hard, even with learning disabilities. She should be made to feel proud, not made to feel like she is taking something away from the "smarter" students.

Very sad.

Exactly. This situation also brings to mind the studies that say it's not the people with the highest IQ who do best in life, it's the people with the best EQs, or emotional intelligence quotient.

Seriously, OP, your relative should having nothing to do with this fight. It's sad that people don't understand that people with learning disabilities can be bright, useful and functional human beings.

 

[jodifla]

For all who'd like to think about special needs in a more illuminating way:

http://www.raisingsmallsouls.com/

Click on the Animal School preview. It's a really interesting, striking allegory on how we malign individuals with different strengths.

 

[disneydentist]

I think the student in question should get to keep her rank. Is it fair to some others? No. Would it be fair to her to change it now? No. Under the current system it's her ranking and should stay that way.

Now for future classes beginning with the incoming 9th grade, I could see changing it. Class rank CAN matter. Here's an example. http://lvc.edu/financial-aid/presidential-scholarship.aspx The scholarship is automatic based on class rank. In this case tha young lady is number 11. Without her the student who is now #13 would be #12 and get a higher $ amount scholarship. The student who is #19 would be #18 and get an automatic scholarship.

In all fairness, this is a limited example, but not the only one by any means. There are more cases where one spot in class rank wouldn't matter, but it does show that it CAN matter so some. Will it matter out in the real world, no. But, it certainly could factor into a student going to he college of their choice. JMO.

 

[browneyes106]

I talked again to my cousin last night. She said she plans to stay out of the situation. Most of the parents and students want to challenge the policy to avoid this situation for future classes. There are still a couple of students who are worried they won't get additional scholarships due to their rankings. One of the students told my cousin that if she gets in the top 15 the college she will be attending will give her additional $1,000 scholarship. The special ed student has had a 4.0 GPA for the past two years while the two students have between a 3.6 to 3.8 GPA. The final rankings will made in mid-May after finals are taken. My cousin has advised a few people she has talked not to go after the girl. My cousin gave me background on the girl. She said the girl doesn't take any traditional core classes at all.

My cousin also said that several teachers also plan to have a meeting with the school board to change the policies. I talked to one of my coworkers about this and she said that a similar thing happened in her high school. The high school she went to was smaller than my cousin's school. There were only 42 students in her senior class and one special ed student graduated with honors. The next year the special ed student went back to school because special ed students in New Mexico can attend school until they are 21. The school later changed the policy to rank special ed students after mainstream students.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

I wonder how the parents who are going after the girl can feel good about themselves. How heartbreaking for the girl, who obviously has tried her best. She probably is working much harder than the other honor students.

I would be ashamed of my children and my school if they were involved in a situation like this.

 

[DizBelle]

I wonder how the parents who are going after the girl can feel good about themselves. How heartbreaking for the girl, who obviously has tried her best. She probably is working much harder than the other honor students.

I would be ashamed of my children and my school if they were involved in a situation like this.

(on bolded part) Agreed. But ranking and grades are about results not effort. Perhaps there should be a separate designation for effort.

 

[tinkerbell615]

(on bolded part) Agreed. But ranking and grades are about results not effort. Perhaps there should be a separate designation for effort.

However, she must be getting the results if she is carrying a GPA high enough to rank her at the top of the class!

 

[tinkerbell615]

I wonder how the parents who are going after the girl can feel good about themselves. How heartbreaking for the girl, who obviously has tried her best. She probably is working much harder than the other honor students.

I would be ashamed of my children and my school if they were involved in a situation like this.

This was pretty much my exact same post previously.

 

[DizBelle]

However, she must be getting the results if she is carrying a GPA high enough to rank her at the top of the class!

Ok, but how can an A in a class on simple addition compare to an A in differential equations (just potential examples)?

 

[cheermom1]

However, she must be getting the results if she is carrying a GPA high enough to rank her at the top of the class!

But if the work she is doing is not on the same level as the others how can her A be compared to the other A's???

 

[jrmasm]

I wonder how the parents who are going after the girl can feel good about themselves. How heartbreaking for the girl, who obviously has tried her best. She probably is working much harder than the other honor students.
I would be ashamed of my children and my school if they were involved in a situation like this.

No one wants to cheapen the special ed students accomplishment. That's fine. But don't cheapen the honors students' either. I suspect plenty of them are working just as hard.

 

[tinkerbell615]

Ok, but how can an A in a class on simple addition compare to an A in differential equations (just potential examples)?

Because simple addition for this student may be just as difficult for them as the differential equations are to the honors' students. According to this student's abilities they are working just as hard as the honors' student.

But if the work she is doing is not on the same level as the others how can her A be compared to the other A's???

Unfortunately, if the school does not carry a weighted GPA for honors level classes then then the "A" for the work she is doing is the same as the "A" the other students are doing.

My whole thought is this... Does everyone honestly believe that the college is going to give this special ed student a scholarship just because she is ranked in the top of her class without looking at the classes she is taking? I can not believe that colleges will say... "Oh, this student is ranked 11 in her class. Let's give her $1,000 scholarship.", without even seeing the classes she is taking. They may say they are giving you a scholarship based on your rank, but I have to believe they are also looking at other criteria before handing out that check.

This special ed student deserves the rank and the GPA that she has earned based the criteria at her school. She deserves the recognition and any awards that she has coming because she has worked very hard to earn them as well as the honors' level students.

I have stated before and will again. If my DD, who does very well in school and is ranked toward the top of her class, would try to take away or cause any other student to lose their rank or GPA because she did not think they deserved it, I would be extremely disappointed.

This is only my opinion and I respect everyone elses on here also.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

But if the work she is doing is not on the same level as the others how can her A be compared to the other A's???

According to her district's policy it can be. So now students/parents finally protested the policy and are working to change it for future students.

Which it the right thing to do here. The special ed student here is not taking core classes and should not have a ranking HS GPA to begin with.

Going after a special ed student because the district has a poor ranking policy is not the special ed's student fault and the student should not hold the blame for knocking people down the ranking rung.

 

[Scurvy]

My whole thought is this... Does everyone honestly believe that the college is going to give this special ed student a scholarship just because she is ranked in the top of her class without looking at the classes she is taking? I can not believe that colleges will say... "Oh, this student is ranked 11 in her class. Let's give her $1,000 scholarship.", without even seeing the classes she is taking. They may say they are giving you a scholarship based on your rank, but I have to believe they are also looking at other criteria before handing out that check.

No, of course if she isn't actually taking the required curriculum for college admissions then she isn't going to be able to go to college. (At least in the mainstream student body - I have no idea if any schools offer programs for Special Ed students who can't perform at high school level.) I can't imagine a college would give her the scholarship when she isn't eligible to go to their school. However, the fact that she is on the list is bumping other students down the ranking list and going by the earlier examples that means that one student who is eligible to go to college, and who could use the scholarship, won't be getting it. There isn't going to be an asterisk on that one student's record that says "Rankings skewed by Special Ed student, should receive scholarship." In those cases where the scholarship is based on ranking, one student will lose out because the girl is getting her honor.

I can't imagine that most students would be trying to take this girl's honor away just because they don't want their honors diploma "cheapened" by the fact that a Special Ed student got one. I suspect they are concerned about their rankings, and rightly so. For some of them, losing out on that potential scholarship might literally mean the difference between being able to afford to go to college and not being able to.

According to her district's policy it can be. So now students/parents finally protested the policy and are working to change it for future students.

Which it the right thing to do here. The special ed student here is not taking core classes and should not have a ranking HS GPA to begin with.

Going after a special ed student because the district has a poor ranking policy is not the special ed's student fault and the student should not hold the blame for knocking people down the ranking rung.

Agreed. The school should have dealt with this long ago to ensure that this situation couldn't happen. Now that it has, they need to make sure it won't happen again. They shouldn't penalize this girl, though - the situation isn't her fault.