Elon Musk was not valedictorian in high school. Neither was Bill Gates whose 2.2 GPA at one point alarmed his parents. Ronald Reagan graduated with a C-average. None of these esteemed men were mediocre in intelligence or achievements, regardless of their high school grades.
Despite what Denver Post opinion columnist George Brauchler believes, high school rank is an irrelevant measure of success, especially when the individual distinction is often mere thousandths of a percentage point. Critics of Cherry Creek School District’s decision to retire valedictorian titles and ranking students by GPA couldn’t be more wrong, and the district should be lauded, not maligned.
Rather than moving toward mediocrity, the district’s action acknowledges and honors widespread high achievement. Cherry Creek High School, the district’s flagship and arguably one of the top high schools in the nation, eliminated valedictorian and ranking of students more than 30 years ago. The reason is that ranking can actually compromise and downplay the achievements of the school’s high number of extraordinary students. Has Creek’s decades-old decision caused mediocrity in the school? Has that choice decreased Creek’s competitiveness? Of course not. It’s laughable to think so.
Brauchler implied the next step for the district will be to no longer have grades or GPAs for college admissions. It will, and the district continues to offer a large number of rigorous, nationally-aligned honors and AP classes, while also increasing the number of students challenging themselves.
Brauchler mistakenly suggests rank is necessary for college admission. It’s not. Grades, test scores, recommendations, college essays, and other factors make up a college application, and colleges rate students against their entire applicant pool, not their high school. Finally, the insinuation that Cherry Creek’s policy shift lowers standards and expectations is patently false. Nothing has changed with curriculum, instruction, assessment, or achievement.
My son, a Princeton sophom*ore, graduated from Cherry Creek with a 4.9 GPA and perfect scores on the ACT, yet was not valedictorian, nor did he need that title to honor his success. His former classmates at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, and other elite programs also graduated from Creek without valedictorian status or class rank, and none expected nor needed either for college admission or to garner respect among their community.
Cherry Creek produces dozens of National Merit Scholars each year, and at its Senior Awards ceremony, the “Principal’s Top Ten” list includes dozens of students because Creek produces so many high achievers with perfect 4.0 GPAs. Clearly, there’s no such thing as a single top student, and publicly ranking them puts them at a disadvantage, which is why many elite schools nationwide also eliminated the practice. Thus, Cherry Creek School District is not moving toward mediocrity but instead joining other top programs in honoring students who achieve far beyond standards of the past.
Cherry Creek’s many high achievers represent a tradition of widespread excellence, and they aren’t just valued by a single percentage point. Sid Mane, a Creek grad and U.S. Presidential Scholar who currently attends Columbia University, is unimpressed with the case for valedictorian. Mane explains that it makes a “claim which is incredibly out of touch,” noting GPA is still listed on transcripts and college apps and is unnecessary to compare students within the school. Additionally, Mane says, “I’d actually contend class rank contributes to mediocrity since it discourages academic risk-taking.”
Ranking can encourage kids to avoid hard classes out of fear of losing a decimal point. Instead, we want our kids to challenge themselves, competing nationwide against the best-of-the-best for admissions and awards, not against each other for a school crown. Mane describes valedictorian as “a quaint tradition” at best.
A highly qualified voice on this issue, Craig Wittgrove, Post-Graduate Coordinator at Cherry Creek High School, explains “The competition for valedictorian and rank has always created gamesmanship and limited students from choosing courses based on growth and interest to instead choose what’s best to manipulate GPA.” He added that many elite, expensive “private schools choose not to rank, as there’s no proof of advantage in college admission, and it may actually limit the number of students admitted to an institution.”
In other words, when schools have numerous extraordinary students, pitting them against each other by GPA can actually harm their post-graduate opportunities. Washington Post education writer Valerie Strauss has studied the issue, sharing the insight of education scholar Alfie Kohn who notes, “The differences in GPA among high-achieving students are statistically insignificant. It’s, therefore, both pointless and misleading to single out the one (or ten) at the top.”
Valedictorian titles and class rank are anachronisms that were put out to pasture at Cherry Creek High School decades ago. Sadly, many people misunderstand this. As an educator, former administrator, and past coordinator of gifted education, I’m disappointed by the crass misrepresentation of this issue to score cheap political points. Superintendent Chris Smith and the Cherry Creek School Board made the right call and the appropriate, well-informed decision that is in the best interest of kids. Creek’s policy validates, deepens, and extends the tradition of excellence.
Michael P. Mazenko is a Cherry Creek High School teacher, a former school administrator, and past gifted education coordinator.
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