Recently, Central York High School authorities captured the public's attention when they chose not to recognize their top two students as Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Naturally, many citizens wanted to know the purpose behind this injustice. One response was that competing for grades created an unhealthy environment for the students. Therefore, by ceasing to award specific students above their peers, there would be no tears and hard feelings.
Sadly, this creates a completely opposite atmosphere compared to the everyday work life. After high school and college are over, these students will be flung into the everyday workforce. There, competition is key in order to remain on top. If hard work is not acknowledged in school, how can our society expect it to be obtained in later years?
The time honored tradition of Valedictorian and Salutatorian not only promotes the idea of striving to achieve your best but also simulates a work environment. In closing, the leaders of our country were those who chose to strive for excellence and at some point or another were given credit for their success.
Awesome job Madison. You're doing great, keep it up :)
Wow! Did that really happen? Give me a break! Is this the first year that they have not recognized the top students? But I bet they recognized the top athletes. You're quite a journalist, Madison!
AMAZING job mads!!!!! This was awesome!!!!
Wow. Imagine what people would do at our school if something like that happened!!
Nice blog Mads.
Madison. I aspire to be able to write like you can. Very nice report.
Thank you all for your support. To answer some of the questions posted above, I would like to say that yes, this did indeed happen. However, this is not the first year they have taken away Valedictorian and Salutatorian. This was the second year the school chose not to recognize their top students. Also, the last I heard, Central was still acknowledging their top athletes. This to me completely goes against their belief of unhealthy competition. If academics are seen as too much of a competitive strain, than why would athletics prove to be different? If anything, there is even more competition when it comes to physical activity.
Thank you all for your support. To answer some of the questions posted above, I would like to say that yes, this did indeed happen. However, this is not the first year they have taken away Valedictorian and Salutatorian. This was the second year the school chose not to recognize their top students. Also, the last I heard, Central was still acknowledging their top athletes. This to me completely goes against their belief of unhealthy competition. If academics are seen as too much of a competitive strain, than why would athletics prove to be different? If anything, there is even more competition when it comes to physical activity.
Central has said more than once that they took away the titles to move to the 'cum laude' system, which is used by many colleges and universities across the nation. The top 5% of the class was honored, as well as the top 5% of each academy, and the top 3 students in each academy were also recognized. This all took place at a special academic awards banquet... designed to highlight the achievements of all of Central's hard working scholars.
It seems to me that all this fuss was created over parents not being willing to change. If their student was even close to the top, they wanted that title for them. Well, Central's guidance office did (and still does) a fine job of making class rank available to students who need it for college apps. It's even on seniors' report cards. If a student is number one, they know it, and all they miss doing is making a speech.
The recent Teen Takeover section in the paper also addressed this: academic competition prepares students for the real world. Well hear this: Central's academy system has different graduation requirements by academy. The AP and Honors courses heavily favor the sciences, so every Valedictorian you'll have in the future will come from there. That doesn't mean there the smartest; it means they took courses that boosted their GPA. Look at the richest people in the world. They're not in science, they're in business. The real world doesn't look at GPA, it looks at overall success, which is what Central's other system did.
A side note: Central recognizes its athletes at individual sports banquets. The NEWSPAPER recognizes top athletes. I have never heard of a top athlete making a speech at graduation.
In the words of YDR, roses to Central for attempting to change to system that recognized all top scholars. Changing the system back was only a means to get over this ridiculous argument and focus on more important issues. Thorns to all parents and community members who were/are so stuck in their ways to make the change such an issue in the first place.