By Casey Zirbel
Opinion Editor
The title of valedictorian is designed to be rewarded to the student who demonstrates excellence through hard work but is often being rewarded due to the practice of coasting through with easy classes.
The Mira Costa valedictorian system punishes the hardest working students by not weighting their Advanced Placementand honors classes in the determination process.
Mira Costa currently weights all classes, regardless of classification, on a 4.0 scale, and the grade point average derived from this scale determines who the valedictorians will be. There are usually multiple valedictorians every year, often including students who choose to take easy classes which facilitate their 4.0.
The sheer number of valedictorians every year has diminished the significance of the title for some. Last year, there were 16 valedictorians, and although it is difficult to discount the value of their hard work, the system unfairly benefits some while discriminating against others.
It is undeniable that AP classes are much more rigorous than their standard counterparts. An A in a CP class is often much easier to obtain than even a B in an AP class, yet the CP class’ A is worth more on an un-weighted scale. This is why some schools weight these classes on a five point scale to give credit to the harder working students.
A student who chooses easy classes in order to coast through high school should not have the exact same GPA as a student who challenges him or herself, and the occurrence of this phenomenon is ludicrous and offensive. This system of bias is not fair and needs to be changed to accurately reflect the accomplishments of the student.
If the valedictorians were chosen by weighted GPA, rather than unweighted GPA, it would give credit to the hardest working student. The valedictorian is supposed to be the top student overall. A system that doesn’t weight advanced classes dishonors the true valedictorian.
Choosing more valedictorians is not a positive thing by any means, despite making many resumes look attractive to colleges. A multitude of valedictorians diminishes respect for the “top student” and is unjust. A practice designed to ignore reality is a troubling custom for a supposed center of learning.
The importance of the valedictorian is derived from a student’s excellence and determination, not laziness. Not giving proper weight to a student’s hard work is simply unjust. The right thing to do is to weight the GPA’s of students when choosing the valedictorian, rather than fabricate excellence.
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