Black Student Sues Over Valedictorian Flap

[Variable]

Not overrated if it helps you get a scholarship.

 

[jakobeast]

I must be dumb. If she knows she had the higher GPA, that she will probably get into a slew of colleges, that she will be able, with hard work, be able to write her own ticket, why does it matter if she was a co-valedictorian?



Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but honestly, if you achieved such a great thing, what does it matter if someone else does?

 

[Pez68]

Suing over this huh? Not surprising.Double standards are only good when they benefit someone, I guess.



Student A has a 3.2/4.0 GPA, and gets a 24 on their ACT. Student B has a 4.0/4.0 GPA, and gets a 28 on their ACT. Their extracurricular/sports activities are a wash. They took the same exact Honors and AP classes. Student A gets an academic scholarship to School X, attending College of Y. Student B is DENIED from the same College of Y, at the same School X. I'll let you figure out what the difference between the two students is.



P.S. Neither student was me, just two individuals I knew.

 

[bookjones]

I must be dumb. If she knows she had the higher GPA, that she will probably get into a slew of colleges, that she will be able, with hard work, be able to write her own ticket, why does it matter if she was a co-valedictorian?



Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but honestly, if you achieved such a great thing, what does it matter if someone else does?

Well it shouldn't matter because it shouldn't be an issue---if they're not mathematically dead-locked that's why schools name salutatorians precisely to recognize the 2nd highest GPA of the graduating class.

 

[nana]

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't take this as ultimately about being sole valedictorian...



Reading BHP's whole post, the true charge at hand from the perspective of the black student(s) is that there is inherent institutional racism at their school. I don't know if it really happened, but if teachers and school officials did what the article charges (ex. the assembly as a tool to perpetuate an unfair ratio in the AP classes), then this is a fight worth fighting every day of the week. Again, I can't speak to what really happened, but that article has much deeper implications than sharing the valedictorian title. I think the other point that books brought up about the stigma of teen pregnancy is a keen observation as well.

 

[bookjones]

Maybe it's just me, but I didn't take this as ultimately about being sole valedictorian...



Reading BHP's whole post, the true charge at hand from the perspective of the black student(s) is that there is inherent institutional racism at their school. I don't know if it really happened, but if teachers and school officials did what the article charges (ex. the assembly as a tool to perpetuate an unfair ratio in the AP classes), then this is a fight worth fighting every day of the week. Again, I can't speak to what really happened, but that article has much deeper implications than sharing the valedictorian title. I think the other point that books brought up about the stigma of teen pregnancy is a keen observation as well.

BINGO!

 

[mikita's helmet]

It's not because she was black. It's because she wasn't white.

 

[bookjones]

It's not because she was black. It's because she wasn't white.

Has anyone ever told you you're like a latter-day Buddha? So deep man. . .so deep.

 

[mikita's helmet]

Has anyone ever told you you're like a latter-day Buddha? So deep man. . .so deep.

I do have the belly.

 

[BiscuitintheBasket]

I do have the belly.

Still carrying that sympathy pregnency weight, eh?

 

[BiscuitintheBasket]

I must be dumb. If she knows she had the higher GPA, that she will probably get into a slew of colleges, that she will be able, with hard work, be able to write her own ticket, why does it matter if she was a co-valedictorian?



Maybe it was the way I was brought up, but honestly, if you achieved such a great thing, what does it matter if someone else does?

I am of the same camp that if one achieves something great then who cares if someone else does as well as someone else always will, but what that achievement made by me is the true worth.



The reality to her life will be that she was a valedictorian (of many) and that will go a long way towards giving her credibility with colleges at any level she chooses. But it really stops meaning much other to her beyond that point.



Where I do take some issue with this is two things:

(1) Why the need for a co-valedictorian? And what is the process for making this decsion? What is the rating scale? Perhaps that scale makes this legit...but co's are pretty rare in HS, and that is why they have all of those other recognitions that will hold similar or close to similar weight.

(2) $75K for damages? SRSLY?

 

[mikita's helmet]

Still carrying that sympathy pregnency weight, eh?

Yep! Having problems losing it despite non-stop pilates.

 

[LordKOTL]

I agree that it may not be racism-motivated, it could be the teen mother angle.



Either way, I see it as a douchey thing to do--AP classes should only come into acount if both students share the same GPA