ShareThisBy NORMAN DRAPER
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Brian Johnson is the last of a vanishing breed
The 18-year-old senior is thevaledictorian at Lakeville South High School in the Minneapolis area..
But next year, Lakeville South will scrap the valedictorian honor. Instead, it will go to the Latin honors system common in colleges: Top students will be designated as graduating summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude, depending on their grades.
Lakeville joins the growing ranks of high schools that have abandoned valedictorians and salutatorians. They are increasingly considered too exclusive or too simple an honor in an era when students take different mixes of easy and difficult courses and different numbers of classes.
"We wanted to expand it and not just have a winner-take-all for graduation," said Scott Douglas, principal of Lakeville South. "Too many kids work too hard to only have one get recognized."
As a rule, valedictorians are the students with the highest grades. They either speak at commencement or receive some other graduation honor.
Although Lakeville South will name only Brian Johnson this year, single valedictorians aren't always the rule. A tie in grade-point averages sometimes leads to multiple valedictorians.
Nationwide, schools in places such as Toledo, Ohio, Palm Beach County, Fla., Burlington, Vt., and Annapolis, Md., have recently done away with having valedictorians or have considered replacing the honor, according to published reports.
It has been at least 15 years since Richfield High School in Minneapolis had a valedictorian, said Principal Jill Johnson.
"It was primarily because you would end up with multiple kids at the top of the class," Johnson said. "And how do you recognize just one, or, if there are more, does it diminish the quality?"
Now, Johnson said, Richfield High honors "scholastic honors students" who exceed a 10 grade-point average on the school's 12-point scale. Last year, about 50 students were so honored. Their names were printed in the commencement program, and they were recognized during the ceremony.
Reach Norman Draper at ndraper(at)startribune.com. For more stories or to comment visit scrippsnews.com
