When compiling class rankings, there are legitimate questions to consider. How to factor AP and honors courses vs. regular courses is one such issue. Disagreements over these issues take effort to resolve and can draw complaints from parents. How much easier is it to just get rid of rankings altogether? I'm pretty sure that's why my high school stopped naming a valedictorian ten years ago
As for competition, we see throughout society that some people (the same types who become school administrators) think it is a negative. That's why kids' sports leagues stop keeping score and give everyone a trophy. This article makes it clear that schools think competition over grades leads only to stress and other bad things. According to one school counselor (generally a pretty contemptible occupation), "There can also be some pretty unhealthy levels of competition." Never mind that competition can, and usually does, lead to greater levels of achievement, both in sports and in the classroom. I suspect these people don't like capitalism, either.
Unsurprisingly, the only person in this article who makes sense is a student (Sarah Klarich) who, also unsurprisingly, is ranked first in her class:
"I know we all want to make people feel good about themselves, but we are not little kids anymore," Klarich said. "By the time we get to high school graduation, we should be comfortable with what we have learned and accomplished instead of feeling like we need to be treated equal and have administrators trying to make us all feel good about ourselves."Glad to see she will graduate without the system having worn down her common sense.
I totally agree with you, Craig. One thing I hate about current American society is the "everyone's a winner" mindset. This is simply not true. I think it is harming people to not teach them about rejection and failure at a young age. I mean, I learn more from my failures than my successes and some people would like for you to never fail. Craziness!!!
ReplyDeleteI do agree that there needs to be a balance - the "everyone's a winner" philosophy fails to recognize genuine achivements while exaggerating non-achievements.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm not sure that I have a problem with ending the ranking program. I sort of think it's ridiculous to measure knowledge with a number to the point where you say that Student A has more knowledge than Student B because of one point. Plus you start to have problems in some districts where the competition becomes cut-throat, and instead of competition being about hard work, it turns into sabotage or paying off teachers.
Finally, I'll never forget how one of the teachers I worked with told me that "grades are between and God." She'd tweak grades a point or two based on what she thought students deserved. When ranking can come down to a few tenths of a point, that's a really dangerous and careless method of grading.
I guess I like my high school's method of not keeping track of rank (or just not telling us), but recognizing people by percentage. Honors classes were given a few extra points, and the students who achieved higher than 100 average were recognized.