Argument- High Schools should get rid of Valedictorians.
Imagine all the
stressful nights of studying to become the best student at your high school.
Every year most schools announce their Valedictorians, the student with the
highest GPA, that student then give a speech at graduation. High Schools should
continue awarding the student with the highest GPA to give students a healthy
race to the top.
Many schools have
started to take away the title of Valedictorians in their school districts
because of the chance of sore feelings. Why try your best if you are just mixed
in with other students who may or may not have worked as hard as you? What is
going to make the students want to continue working their best if they do not
have a way to tell how much further they can push themselves? Due to being
scared to hurt people’s feelings and schools being sued, there are schools that
would rather just not worry about it. Such as Sarasota High School, when there
were more than one student being named Valedictorian, the school had so much
tension that the principal decided to stop awarding the top student and start
recognizing all who worked hard. There is a problem with that. As much as people
do not see it, school is a competition, a competition over grades and how hard
one works to achieve success. It is as much as a competition as football.
Being ranked out
of all the students of your grade level shows where you stand and how much you
need to push yourself to reach your goal, whether it is top ten percent or the
Valedictorian. Many students strive to become better. Creating the study habits
and determination in High School will set students up for success in the real
life outside of school; for their dreams. This healthy competition causes stress,
but so does anything that result in a winner, such as sports or band. Each causes
stress, but students need to learn how to deal with stress. It is inevitable that
someone will be above the rest, that someone’s feelings will be hurt when they
fall short, but schools should continue pushing their students to the best of
their abilities. The title of Valedictorian is a way to show them how hard they
need to work.
If all schools
resorted to the demolishing of Valedictorians and class rank, students very
well may stop trying their best, because why try so hard if there is nowhere to
show how hard you have worked or need to work? Not only did this give students
the competition to become better students, it also sets them up with the tools
for success in a world full of Valedictorians. The students strive to be above
average. Without rank the top students then become part of the crowd, the
average. It is understandable why schools do not want to put students through
the stress to become the best, but in the real world, it is all a competition
that is not candy-coated. There will not be, “Oh the people above this point
are all winners! Good job!” No. There will always be someone above you, why not
brace yourself for the inevitable? Why not push yourself to become the best in
something you are passionate about?
High Schools need
a good dose of competition when it comes to academics. Awarding someone for
their hard work will not only show the person they achieved what they strived
for, but teach the rest what is needed to be done to become better. Those stressful
nights of studying become the beginning of your success story.
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