Administration diluting valedictorian's honor

Mills is the only high school in the district that has a true grasp of this whole "valedictorian" idea. Mills chooses one senior to be valedictorian. The senior chosen is the student in the class with the highest weighted GPA. Weighted grades, a system in which advanced placement classes and honors courses are based on a 5.0 scale rather than a 4.0, reward students enrolled in more difficult courses. This is as it should be.

Before the district implemented weighted grades, high school administrators found it extremely difficult to choose valedictorians. Most schools stated that any student with a 4.0 grade point average (all A's), would be a valedictorian. This method did not distinguish between advanced placement, honors, and college prep courses. Some years there were eight valedictorians at one school. Braggin' rights all around.

With weighted grades now in place, counselors should have a much easier task of deciding who will be valedictorian, since weighted grades generally place one student as number one, where before the number one seed could be filled by a handful of students. But now politics come into play and the temptation to spread the wealth continues.

To its credit Aragon has decided to take the new weighted grading system into consideration. Principal Kirk Black, along with school counselors, administration officers and students, will meet within the month to discuss the school's valedictorian policies. This group will set the standards by which all future valedictorians will be selected. Some schools like Hillsdale and Burlingame are going to continue with their old feel-good ways, in which all students with a 4.0 un-weighted are awarded valedictorian honors. Neither Burlingame nor Hillsdale will change their policies to coincide with the new weighted grade system.

The politics of the process are even more evident when it comes to the valedictory speeches. Let the student who earned the highest GPA give the speech? A foreign concept in this district and the schools differ in how they determine which student will give the valedictorian address.

According to Principal Don Leydig, the valedictorians at Hillsdale High School all have an opportunity to speak during an allotted "valedictorian time." While not all students may choose to, they are all given equal opportunity. At Burlingame and Aragon, however, the competition is fiercer. Students in the running for valedictorian must prepare and perform a speech in front of a panel of judges, including drama teachers. The student with the best public speaking skills and most impressive script is then chosen to address the student body and guests at the graduation ceremony.

This is wrong. The student with the highest weighted GPA should be the valedictorian and give the valedictory speech. Period. If the school wants other speakers for entertainment purposes, that's a different story, but in any case, why are adult judges deciding who should be the speakers at graduation, which is truly for the students?

The valedictorian position is not one which should be shared. School administrators may think that by allowing a large group of people to earn name recognition they are making everybody happy. But the end result is to diminish the honor. And as far as the speech goes ... to the victor goes the spoils.

Grace Kallis is a senior at Aragon High School. Her column, Graceland, highlights news from this area's high schools and other activities around town. It appears every Tuesday. If you have some news you'd like to send Grace's way, e-mail her at grace@smdailyjournal.com.