Valedictorian/Salutatorian?

[disney junky]

Do your schools still have them? Many of the local schools have gotten away from these because they aren't necessarily an accurate measure of achievement/accomplishment.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I would be in favor of doing away with them. I think it puts a lot of pressure on the top students and a lot of pressure on their teachers. I've heard of students begging for points to be reinstated on tests because they would lose their top status. It's not right, especially in subjects where grading can be fairly subjective like music, art, and even English.

 

[Aliceacc]

We do, but they don't have to have the highest averages-- those are different awards at graduation.

Our seniors vote for the two speakers at graduation. Inevitably they choose kids at the top, but not always the top two. They've never NOT chosen a kid who represents them as a class. (And, yes, it's a "consultative vote"-- so the administration reserves the right to override. They've never needed to, but could.)

 

[luvsJack]

We still have them at all of the local schools. And all community colleges give a scholarship for both.

Not sure how its chosen elsewhere, but they have the 5 or so top GPA's (usually within a tenth of a point from each other) and then they start looking at other things like participation in other activities. So I would say 9 out 10 times the ones chosen really are the top of the class.

 

[bballmom56]

Yes, our high school has it and our middle school as well.

 

[kamik86]

My high school did but since my high school had so few class choices it wasn't so hard to figure out. There were a few "honors" classes that were waited slightly higher but we didn't have APs, electives (so drama, art, etc that get really subjective), etc. So most of the time everyone was on the same curriculum except our shop class. Now some of the shops may have been easier to do well in then others I'm not too sure on that, the top students did tend to always come from the same shops but they were also the group that was in honors and doing best in other classes so I'm not sure how much that played into it. (Top shops were CAD, Information Tech, Electricity, etc... the ones that required alot of math to be able to do the shop... Culinary, Automotive, and a few others didn't have as many honors kids)

I was Valedictorian, but I hated that I had to give a speech at graduation. I wish I could have given it to the 3rd person in class. He would have given a great speech.

 

[golfgal]

Yes they have them here but they also have a honors ranking system so the top students really are the top students. They have a formula they use for calculating how many honors/AP/CIS classes a student takes and their grade in that class. If you don't take any advanced classes you can't graduate in the top of the class-and realistically you can't graduate in the top 1/2 of the class or so. They don't weight the grades so you can still only earn a 4.0 but you have 2 class ranks-an overall rank and your honor's rank.

 

[cruisnfamily]

I was so disappointed this year when my dd graduated that the valedictorian and salutatorian were not recognized. The speakers were chosen from students who auditioned to speak not necessarily the top students. The top 10 students did walk in rank order so we knew who was first but not one word was said, no recognition given whatsoever.

 

[disney junky]

Yes they have them here but they also have a honors ranking system so the top students really are the top students. They have a formula they use for calculating how many honors/AP/CIS classes a student takes and their grade in that class. If you don't take any advanced classes you can't graduate in the top of the class-and realistically you can't graduate in the top 1/2 of the class or so. They don't weight the grades so you can still only earn a 4.0 but you have 2 class ranks-an overall rank and your honor's rank.

In some ways though, these are some reasons why schools have done away with them. For example, one of our most amazing art students was ranked second in her class a few years back. She designed a duck stamp (http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/) which won the state competition, moving her to the national level. Our local career and technology center (vo-tech) has an amazing graphic arts program, so she enrolled in that program and lost her class rank because those classes aren't "honors" classes. When I spoke to her about it prior to her leaving the home school, she got very emotional about it. But she knew it was the best thing for her future as an artist. The trouble was, she paid a price as least in recognition for her other work as a fine student in her other areas.

 

[PrincessShanShan]

Yes, my son was salutatorian when he graduated two years ago. Our school does a similar ranking system as golfgal mentioned.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I was Salutatorian of my (rather small) class, but back then, I think it was a cleaner decision - not so many different levels of each subject, etc.

I didn't mind giving a speech, but I did drop an elective over it. - I had wanted to take a photography class my senior year, but the teacher admitted on the first day that he didn't give As, and I dropped the class because I was counting on the scholarship money from finishing at a high rank.

Even though I'm sure it would have been a fun class, I don't really regret it, as it was an honor I couldn't go back and redo, while I have gone on to study the hobby on my own.

 

[laughinplace199]

Our elementary school (K-6) has a valedictorian and salutatorian. They are chosen based only on their GPA. They both give speeches at graduation. DD was salutatorian this year and she gave a great little speech. She is kind of on the quiet side, not really one to be the center of attention. She was so calm and relaxed when she gave her speech - you'd have thought she did it every day!

 

[cruisnfamily]

Our elementary school (K-6) has a valedictorian and salutatorian. They are chosen based only on their GPA. They both give speeches at graduation. DD was salutatorian this year and she gave a great little speech. She is kind of on the quiet side, not really one to be the center of attention. She was so calm and relaxed when she gave her speech - you'd have thought she did it every day!

No offense intended towards you or your DD by what I'm about to say, I apologize in advance and I'm sure your DD is terrific. BUT......I think it is absolutely ridiculous to have valedictorians and salutatorians for elementary school! I also do not think there should be preschool, Kindergarten, 5th grade and 8th grade graduations. Let's save the valedictorians and the graduations for High school and college!

 

[laughinplace199]

No offense intended towards you or your DD by what I'm about to say, I apologize in advance and I'm sure your DD is terrific. BUT......I think it is absolutely ridiculous to have valedictorians and salutatorians for elementary school! I also do not think there should be preschool, Kindergarten, 5th grade and 8th grade graduations. Let's save the valedictorians and the graduations for High school and college!

I see your point, but I'm glad that our school does this. It's a small Catholic school that ends in 6th grade. A lot of schools in my area end in 6th and getting into a good school for 7th grade is a big deal around here, especially since our public school system is not the greatest. Most of the kids go on to either private schools or one particular public school. All of these schools require an entrance exam and some schools also require interviews during the admission process - it's crazy, it's like applying to college. Anyway, the kids work really hard to keep their grades up while applying to schools and taking entrance exams and I think it's great that they are recognized for their success.

 

[Disney Daniel]

I was the salutatorian for my graduating class in 2004. All of the advanced/non-advanced course grades were lumped together, but no one really complained as it seemed that most of the students that would have been in the running for the top five positions were taking at least one or two of the advanced courses. I believe that my school still ranks by GPA and I am glad it is still a continuing tradition.

At the school where I graduated no one that I knew seemed like they made it a "life-long dream" or anything of the sort so I don't think anyone felt any additional pressure over and above the usual pressures of graduating and heading off to college. In fact, being salutatorian was quite a surprise for me as I found out in January that I was ranked fourth in the class (out of about 250 who graduated) so I didn't see moving up two spots as much of a possibility so I just went on doing what I was doing and got a nice surprise at the end of the year. It is certainly something I will remember for the rest of my life and I am glad now that it happened, however like I said it was not a goal I had really set out for myself from day one.

 

[bombygriz]

No offense intended towards you or your DD by what I'm about to say, I apologize in advance and I'm sure your DD is terrific. BUT......I think it is absolutely ridiculous to have valedictorians and salutatorians for elementary school! I also do not think there should be preschool, Kindergarten, 5th grade and 8th grade graduations. Let's save the valedictorians and the graduations for High school and college!

I understand the circumstance of graduating into another private school, but those sort of achievements shouldn't be the ONLY reason a child is accepted into a private school, especially since kids that age are really not mature enough to understand the concept of that particular competition.

Yes they have them here but they also have a honors ranking system so the top students really are the top students. They have a formula they use for calculating how many honors/AP/CIS classes a student takes and their grade in that class. If you don't take any advanced classes you can't graduate in the top of the class-and realistically you can't graduate in the top 1/2 of the class or so. They don't weight the grades so you can still only earn a 4.0 but you have 2 class ranks-an overall rank and your honor's rank.

This is what we have at our school. I think it is right, because we do have honors level electives, too. It's not hard to take all your 'core' classes advanced and do everything else normal.

I was so disappointed this year when my dd graduated that the valedictorian and salutatorian were not recognized. The speakers were chosen from students who auditioned to speak not necessarily the top students. The top 10 students did walk in rank order so we knew who was first but not one word was said, no recognition given whatsoever.

I would be disappointed, too. The whole speech thing is about earning the privilege by being the top students. It should be assumed that a kid who can maintain an almost-perfect GPA knows enough about life to speak about it! (Congrats to your DD, by the way!)

 

[Kimberly]

I graduated Salutatorian from my high school. Ended up having to give a speech, and received a special cap and gown as a result of it. I think I'd be upset if my high school/prep school were doing away with it, because it encourages academic competition among peers.

 

[YodaGirl]

My old high school still has them. They are based on GPA, and to an extent, the diploma you received (the bottom two levels we're eligible). My school was so large that my graduating class had 26 students with a 4.0. Needless to say that by the time they were finished speaking (and the salutatorians - GPA of 3.99), we were tired of listening.

 

[Pinkpony]

Our school figures the val & sal this way:

Val - Anyone with all A's that has taken at least 5 AP classes.

Sal - Anyone with all A's, except for one B, that has taken at least 5 AP classes.

It seems likes a fair way to handle it. It's stressful enough trying to attain straight A's without worrying about whether someone else was able to sign up for one more AP class than you.

Out of 550 students, we had 8 vals and 2 sals. Proud to say two of the vals were mine.

Class rank is handled differently. It's based on a weighted GPA. There were a few students ranked a little higher than some of the vals and sals due to the extreme number of AP classes they took.

 

[mjkacmom]

Yes they have them here but they also have a honors ranking system so the top students really are the top students. They have a formula they use for calculating how many honors/AP/CIS classes a student takes and their grade in that class. If you don't take any advanced classes you can't graduate in the top of the class-and realistically you can't graduate in the top 1/2 of the class or so. They don't weight the grades so you can still only earn a 4.0 but you have 2 class ranks-an overall rank and your honor's rank.

We still have them, but our honors/AP's are weighted. I don't know what the top grade is - dd14 has a 4.33, and her friends are higher. Participation in clubs, sports, music, etc. does count towards the GPA.