Grapevine student with top grades won't be valedictorian

[Scooter24]

Grapevine student with top grades won't be valedictorian

12:37 PM CDT on Thursday, May 29, 2008
By LAURIE FOX / The Dallas Morning News


Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year.

In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history.

It's still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state.

Her closest competitor's GPA is 5.64. No one disputes that she's the top student in her class numerically. The problem rests with another number entirely.

Anjali rocketed through high school in only three years.

But a school district policy states: "The valedictorian shall be the eligible student with the highest weighted grade-point average for four years of high school."

(more)
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/052908dnmetvaledictorian.3b254412.html?npc&nTar=OPUR
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Almost a 6.0 GPA, a perfect ACT score, and completed a high school curriculum in 3 years, yet punished for success.

[mike_c]

1. I hope she doesn't sweat the small stuff...

...and never looks back! Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke. Congratulations for your awesome achievement, Ms. Datta!

:woohoo:

[NV Whino]

2. Fuck 'em.

[Clovis Sangrail]

3. I thought the highest gpa you could get was 4.0

thankfully HS is long behind me

[trotsky]

6. I thought so too.

The most I had heard of was some schools giving an A+ a 4.33 score, which could bring you above 4.0, but certainly not approaching 6.0. How the hell does that work? Gotta be grade inflation.

[FSogol]

8. Honors and other advanced courses are worth more than 4.0 n/t

[Scooter24]

9. Many school districts weigh classes differently

depending on strength. An AP or Honors course for example might be a 6.0 course whereas an Advanced course might be 5.0 and a regular course 4.0.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I don't have a problem with this

It's kind of like what's going on with the DNC. Florida and Michigan want the rules changed just for them.

Why have rules if they aren't going to be enforced?

[Scooter24]

11. So she has the credits

What should she do, enroll in school for one more year but sit up in the office as an "office aid" all year just so she can receive her scholarship that was rightfully earned the year prior?

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Of course not

But it isn't fair to the kids who spent 4 years there for her to be allowed to break the rules.

I also don't see why this is so horrible. She is going to get a full ride and probably have her pick of colleges. Five years from now it isn't going to matter that she wasn't valedictorian. In fact, it probably will start to not matter the day after graduation.

[BOHICA06]

5. PUNISHED ????

She most likely has a full ride to almost any school. Leave high school behind, it's a block checked .... but it won't be important in 5 years when she's in grad schools.

[LisaM]

7. I think there should be two scholarships awarded, BUT

I can kind of see the other POV, too. What if it was your senior high school class, and the valedictorian ended up being someone from the junior class? The seniors all went through four years of high school together and probably want to see someone from their own class.

It's tough, but I really think they should have found a way to award co-scholarships, along with giving her the additional valedictorian award.

[Scooter24]

10. I wouldn't mind

if that student had completed the same amount of work I did to graduate. The top academic honor isn't some popularity contest.

[LisaM]

12. No, but you could see how some other students could be resentful

I had the luxury of being able to take extra classes in the summer, and ended up with the most credits in my class. But not everyone in my class did. Some had to work on farms, some had after-school jobs (I did babysitting at night), and so on. And a lot of people have strong identity with their high school classes. Oh who knows, maybe it's all changed now.

[ladjf]

13. That's as dumb as a school rule can get. Shame on whoever

is responsible for that travesty of justice.

[funflower]

15. So her crime was to cost the district a year's worth of her federal matching funds?

Just being facetious (sort of). Colleges don't ask whether you're a "valedictorian." They ask for your class rank. This girl is going to be a superstar, and the scholarship providers will be standing in line to help her out.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

16. GPA is only part of the story

As someone who came extremely close to valedictorian status, I've paid close attention to this issue.

The problem is that GPA says nothing about how difficult the courses are. We had someone at our high school years ago who came very close to valedictorian taking nothing but "mickey mouse" courses. Want to get a 4.0? Simple - don't challenge yourself!

I think a better way for selecting the valedictorian would be a system of "challenge points"; each course is given a certain number of challenge points. For example, teacher aide would be 1 or 2, band would be perhaps 3, English a 4, regular math courses might be a 6, and AP courses would be 8 or 9. Then you multiply the total number of challenge points by the GPA to get the Accomplishment Score.

This would also be nifty for admissions and scholarship selection by the more sophisticated universities.

[demmiblue]

18. Some schools do take that into consideration

In the school district I live in, AP courses are weighted more heavily. An A in an AP course is worth a 4.25.

[Mass]

17. I am sure she will have no problem getting another scholarship.

So, I am not sure that I am bothered for her. Rules are rules, and while the school will probably recognize her during the graduation, I am not sure it is a big deal.