There can be only one

March 9th, 2006 Stewart Posted in Uncategorized |

Schools Avoid Class Ranking, Vexing Colleges - New York Times

For a generation that supposedly thrives on both collaboration and competition, the Millennials seem awfully averse to being given a class rank when they graduate high school. In fairness, this aversion is more likely symptomatic of helicopter parents who fear what a middling rank might do to their child’s chances of getting into a good college.

But, as the article points out, without academic rank the college admissions officers find themselves scrambling to come up with other quantitative criteria to help them make their selections. This leads to bad decisions being made, often based on incomplete information and an overreliance on SAT scores. This benefits no one.

I look at academic ranking as not just a “necessary evil,” but as a device that reinforces the value of grades, something that seems to be lacking from the holistic POV of the parents and HS admins. Grades can and should matter. Any high school that has a rigorous and well-designed curriculum should have very few troubles singling out their top students and ranking them accordingly.

Of course, if you end up with 44 valedictorians, you might as well not even have one. Clearly, your curriculum operates without standards of any kind.