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Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:17 pm
by Michael Palero
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... c&nTar=YBZ
student with highest gpa won't be valedictorian
Anjali Datta holds the highest grade point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School in Texas. In fact, school officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in Gravevine's history. However, it's still apparently not enough to make her the class valedictorian: Grapevine student with top grades won't be valedictorian.

It seems that although she's the top student in her class—her closest competitor's GPA is 5.64—she is being denied the valedictorian title because he's finishing high school in just three years. That's right... not only does 16-year-old Anjali have an insanely high GPA, she's graduating early. 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." So does four years mean calendar years of school attendance, or does it mean completing the credits it takes most students four years to earn?

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:35 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Lame.

My high school was lame too, albeit not as lame as that. Anybody with a GPA over 3.5 was eligible, and applicants submitted their speeches to the administration, who chose the valedictorian based on the quality of the speech.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 5:41 pm
by Curt Luther
Yawn...

My kid's a straight A student, albeit in Elementary School, and I hope to God she's got enough of a life in High School to NOT be a valedictorian.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:03 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
Ashley Armstrong wrote:Lame.

My high school was lame too, albeit not as lame as that. Anybody with a GPA over 3.5 was eligible, and applicants submitted their speeches to the administration, who chose the valedictorian based on the quality of the speech.
Your speech didn't win, eh? :D

And I'll bet you didn't make this gaffe, like the Morning News did: "It depends on whom you ask." :roll:

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:10 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
But the lameness doesn't stop:

"So at graduation ceremonies, 18-year-old Tyler Scott Franklin of Colleyville will be the Grapevine High School valedictorian.

Anjali will be "Valedictorian – Three-Year."

District officials said the title was created for this situation."

No wonder the schools are bollocksed. Only morons incapable of reasoning can be administrators. :roll:

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:20 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Bob Beamesderfer wrote:
Ashley Armstrong wrote:Lame.

My high school was lame too, albeit not as lame as that. Anybody with a GPA over 3.5 was eligible, and applicants submitted their speeches to the administration, who chose the valedictorian based on the quality of the speech.
Your speech didn't win, eh? :D

And I'll bet you didn't make this gaffe, like the Morning News did: "It depends on whom you ask." :roll:
I didn't apply. I hate public speaking. :)

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:21 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Hey, I've been asked on before!

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:22 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
Ashley Armstrong wrote:
Bob Beamesderfer wrote:
Ashley Armstrong wrote:Lame.

My high school was lame too, albeit not as lame as that. Anybody with a GPA over 3.5 was eligible, and applicants submitted their speeches to the administration, who chose the valedictorian based on the quality of the speech.
Your speech didn't win, eh? :D

And I'll bet you didn't make this gaffe, like the Morning News did: "It depends on whom you ask." :roll:
I didn't apply. I hate public speaking. :)
That pretty much keeps me away from trying to enter Jeopardy. Deer, meet Headlights. :shock:

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:38 pm
by Reijo Silvennoinen
Did anyone hear the news article on the valedictorian for the black college (Moore....something or other?)?

They picked one fellow and as it turned out, he was white! :?

Well, they insisted he do it....even after he said.....uh.....do you know I'm white? lol

At least they weren't discriminating!

Reijo (what the hell do I know?.....I grew up in northern, almost totally white Canada with a few natives thrown in....not that I care either way...people are people to me ....)

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:50 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
You have never seen high school administrators as nervous as mine....as I approached the podium to give the valedictorian speech.

I had to submit the speech for approval by the district superintendent of schools. Of course, that was NOT the speech I actually gave. }:)

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:55 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Steve Ekstrand wrote:You have never seen high school administrators as nervous as mine....as I approached the podium to give the valedictorian speech.

I had to submit the speech for approval by the district superintendent of schools. Of course, that was NOT the speech I actually gave. }:)
Haha, you rebel.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:58 pm
by Reijo Silvennoinen
Steve Ekstrand wrote:You have never seen high school administrators as nervous as mine....as I approached the podium to give the valedictorian speech.

I had to submit the speech for approval by the district superintendent of schools. Of course, that was NOT the speech I actually gave. }:)
I think that was why I wasn't valedictorian..... :lol:

Reijo

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:28 pm
by Curt Luther
Just got back from a walk with the math teacher wife. How the hell do you get a 5.88GPA? Is that out of 4 or 5? If out of five, do they give Gs? Highest GPA at my wife's school is a 4.5. Valedictorian doesn't even give a speech. I like that.

When I graduated, the highest GPA you could get was 4.0. We had 13 Seniors with that GPA. Had to write an essay to be considered for vd (yeah, I'm shortenin' it). Eight said F it. From the five, they chose three to be co-vds. That's lame. One of them, who was TO ME, our most outstanding grad, said F it, but was talked into giving a speech by most of us and her older sister who was vd two years earlier. The other two were kiss ass pricks with intimate knowledge of the insides if trash cans and gym lockers for four years. Good reason for it. They were actually booed before and after their speeches by most of the students. So that's why I think the title's a joke. If it was, or is, your main goal in life at that age, your life has really gotta suck, overall.

/rant

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:32 pm
by Bob Beamesderfer
High School valedictorian is worth less than your high school ring 10 years on.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:40 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Curt Luther wrote:Just got back from a walk with the math teacher wife. How the hell do you get a 5.88GPA? Is that out of 4 or 5? If out of five, do they give Gs? Highest GPA at my wife's school is a 4.5. Valedictorian doesn't even give a speech. I like that.
At my school it was out of 4, technically, but you got an extra point for honors/AP courses (e.g., 5 pts for an A). Not all classes were offered in honors format, though, so in practice the highest you could get was around 4.5.

No idea re: 5.88, tho.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:49 pm
by Thomas Smith
Ashley Armstrong wrote:
Curt Luther wrote:Just got back from a walk with the math teacher wife. How the hell do you get a 5.88GPA? Is that out of 4 or 5? If out of five, do they give Gs? Highest GPA at my wife's school is a 4.5. Valedictorian doesn't even give a speech. I like that.
At my school it was out of 4, technically, but you got an extra point for honors/AP courses (e.g., 5 pts for an A). Not all classes were offered in honors format, though, so in practice the highest you could get was around 4.5.

No idea re: 5.88, tho.
Like Curt, when I was in high school the best you could do was a 4.0. I took plenty of Honors/AP courses all through high school but never got any bonus points. 5.88?? WTF?

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:14 pm
by Curt Luther
I had honors and AP courses, but I never got As in them :thumbup:

I was a GATE student, so for the first two and a half years of HS, I was pushed into AP classes. I just hated studying and got Bs and Cs by osmosis. By the end of my junior year, I dropped the AP crap and just concentrated on graduating. I was done by 1st semester of my Senior year, but had to finish English 4 to get into Cal State (909). So I HAD to take four classes and only needed one. My class load, last semester of my Senior year:

Auto 2
Aide for Know Your Auto
Accounting 2
English 4

Ernie (and I was the only one who could call him that), my auto shop teacher, knew my predicament, and only made me show up when I wanted to. That's why I'm a crappy mechanic. Mr. Overton, my accounting teacher, also knew my predicament and he was retiring at the end of the year. He was also lucky to have a student teacher. So, we would spend a lot of class time putting in the back of class and near the end of the semester, somedays we would go down the street to Victoria CC and hit a bucket.

It was the only quarter I got a 4.0...

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:44 pm
by Don Salyers
Thomas Smith wrote:
Ashley Armstrong wrote:
Curt Luther wrote:Just got back from a walk with the math teacher wife. How the hell do you get a 5.88GPA? Is that out of 4 or 5? If out of five, do they give Gs? Highest GPA at my wife's school is a 4.5. Valedictorian doesn't even give a speech. I like that.
At my school it was out of 4, technically, but you got an extra point for honors/AP courses (e.g., 5 pts for an A). Not all classes were offered in honors format, though, so in practice the highest you could get was around 4.5.

No idea re: 5.88, tho.
Like Curt, when I was in high school the best you could do was a 4.0. I took plenty of Honors/AP courses all through high school but never got any bonus points. 5.88?? WTF?
If isn't out of 5.88, it is only just about perfect.....

When I was a senior, the girl with the perfect grade point (4.0) was not allowed to be the valedictorian because she had missed a bit of school to have a baby..... Still got all A's, but a mother in high school just can not be recognized...

Don

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 8:47 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Don Salyers wrote:When I was a senior, the girl with the perfect grade point (4.0) was not allowed to be the valedictorian because she had missed a bit of school to have a baby..... Still got all A's, but a mother in high school just can not be recognized...
She would've gotten expelled from my HS. Catholic school :P

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:01 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
HS for me was like some sort of geek fantasy dream sequence collaboration between John Hughes and Judd Apatow. I rejected the Caltech at 13 scenario and spent HS staging a nerd coup.
I never missed less than 40 days a year, hit a high of 53. Resurrected the drama program and school newspaper. Saved the yearbook and the golf team. Re-wrote the student constitution. Resurrected the old traditions of the 50's, 60's, and 70's with students doing things in the community. Staged a coup of the School Board and got mom elected president. I had the run of the place. And I used it to the fullest extent of evil malefic self-enlightened pagan excess.

But I did get a B+ when a whack job teacher docked me a full grade for not ratting out a classmate. And the football coach gave me B+ for refusing to play football (yeah, it was that direct).

And my speech was epic..... }:)

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:04 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
Did I mention I punched out a coach and trashed the driving ed car. Oh yeah and hung a kid off a two story balcony.

Not to mention all the great burnout art.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:32 pm
by Curt Luther
Ashley Armstrong wrote:
She would've gotten expelled from my HS. Catholic school :P
Still got "the skirt"? Just askin'...

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:51 pm
by Ashley Armstrong
Curt Luther wrote:Still got "the skirt"? Just askin'...
Why, wanna borrow it?

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:14 pm
by Steve Ekstrand
I know Ash's catholic HS quite well.....


Better than a wet t-shirt contest would be a Wet Catholic School Girl contest.... I'm just saying.... I bet Curt, Paul and George will have my back on this call. Might take some heat from the Berry family though.

Re: Student with top grades won't be valedictorian?

Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:34 am
by Curt Luther
Ashley Armstrong wrote:
Curt Luther wrote:Still got "the skirt"? Just askin'...
Why, wanna borrow it?
Already got one :thumbup: