Cons- What About A Good Speech?
May 27, 2021
Imagine it’s your graduation day–the proudest moment of your life, well, thus far. Your grandparents drove in from Ohio, you’re sitting in a sweaty satin gown in the MSU auditorium, and overall, you’re looking toward a bright future. That is, until the Valedictorian takes the stage. “The dictionary defines ‘graduate’ as…” he drawls on. He has the highest GPA in the school, but can’t say something original to save his life. You look into the audience at your little cousin and sigh…this is going to be a long ceremony.
Having the highest GPA doesn’t make you a good public speaker. Sure, you might be intelligent and able to engage in discourse for classes, but speech-writing isn’t an exact science to be mastered–it depends on emotion and human connection. At graduation, seniors need a captivating speaker to give an honest reflection on the high school experience.
The super-high 4.7 GPA required to be speaker simply isn’t available to every student. Some cannot afford AP tests, have to work a job or two and cannot study for perfect grades, or have a learning disability that affects their grades. A high school is full of interesting and diverse people- unique experiences make for great speeches. Everyone deserves a chance to say their piece, and this is why the class speaker should not be chosen based on GPA, but on speech merit.
While a Valedictorian spot recognizes the hard work of the top student grade-wise in a school, it puts all the academically-minded students against each other. At a school like ELHS, with 56% AP participation rate, competition for the number one GPA spot can come down to very close races–and tenths of grade point that really don’t matter in the long run. This competition is unnecessary–students already obsess about grades to get into selective schools, and they already compare themselves to each other. Why make it worse?
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Patzi O’Callaghan • Aug 5, 2022 at 2:28 pm
I feel that this should be abolished because it puts way too much stress and pressure on the student who is mega stressed out with their studies and exams. Let the kids be kids. Px
Julia Shatzer • Jan 26, 2023 at 9:21 pm
I disagree completely. If someone does not wish to have that added stress that’s fine. But for those of us who can handle the stress and strive for academic excellence and put our all into every assignment, every homework, and every curriculum no matter if we like the subject or not, we deserve some recognition. I agree it isn’t for everyone, but you shouldn’t completely get rid of it because a minority can’t handle it. Not to mention the competitive environment prepares those students for the competitive atmosphere once they have graduated. College, careers, and sports all contain competition. Trying to obtain a job in a competitive career path requires a student to work through all the stress of their college courses and live up to their full potential. It’s the same thing here. Those of us who strive to be valedictorian likely put so much effort and time into our work and grades because we are looking to get into a competitive college or university. It’s the same way in jobs. If you’re being considered for a promotion, most reactions would be to push yourself to work harder and better than you already are, even if you had originally thought you were already putting in 100% of your effort. Your entire life you are going to have to be competing with others for benefits or opportunities. I don’t understand why you would want to shield almost adults from the real-life emotions they are going to be feeling on a daily basis. If you shield them from all the stress and worry, they are going to have a tough time adapting when they are on their own. If there is a medical condition such as severe anxiety, I would understand why that student may not be interested in such a title or competition, however, those individuals do not have to even make an attempt to reach this goal. Even in sports, a school’s top athletes receive prizes, praise, or recognition. Do non-athletic students not deserve the same opportunities to be recognized for their achievements? Students in band and choir receive recognition for excellence. Even some students in particular classes get praise for having the best project, paper, test score, etc. Stress is all around us. But those of us who want to rise to the occasion and strive for something better whether it is being captain of a sports team, receiving a solo in band or choir, or even making it to the next stage of a tournament, should not be denied the chance to. Students add stress to themselves no matter what they are doing. Competing to be valedictorian applies the same amount of extra stress as shooting for a promotion, trying out for a solo piece, being a top athlete, and other simple things only people involved would think of. It is unfair to take a good opportunity away from those of us who challenge ourselves and push ourselves to our limits every day because a minority is incapable of keeping up.
Jason • May 21, 2023 at 12:45 pm
Excellent rebuttal. Reminds of a quote by the Roman General Hericletus. ” Out of every one hundred men they send me, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are nothing but targets, nine are real fighters… we are lucky to have them, they make the battle. Ah…., but one of them is a warrior.. and he will bring the others back..”
Coral • Jun 10, 2023 at 2:03 am
As a highschool student, I think that valedictorian is a good idea for college graduates…. But I disagree with what you say about competition in highschool. In a perfect world I would agree that the system is great to prep students for college and their competitive careers- however, public education is NOT all equal. The income disparity in the United States leaves little funding for most public schools. Low-income areas, city schools, and rural areas alike all deal with the issue of having less opportunitities for their highschoolers.. And it is clearly obvious that those that come from financially stable families are able to better support their children.. So those kids tend to perform well REGARDELESS of how hard they study. Now I acknowledge that there are many exceptions, and that there is no stereotypical student in the U.S… But those types of students don’t usually have to worry about the added stressors from their home life. Having to provide for their families with jobs, Grappling drug abuse, Grief, disabilities… Children of the U.S have to grapple with many issues at a young age and I just don’t think the grading systems in the public school system supports and awards students appropriately.
In my perspective, I do not think highschoolers at the age of 15-17 should have to worry about their performance.. We treat highschool like its prep to a job in the future and many highschoolers are depressed because of it. The U.S already has tough working conditions that make barely livable income, and along with the added stress of having to go to an expensive college, teenagers are forced through an enormous burden. You can see the way they express themselves through tiktok and social media! I think if we reformed education, AND working conditions our country doesn’t have ti suffer!
You say that it is a minority that can’t keep up, but I think if you were to genuinely ask a class in highschool, I would bet a lot of them feel overwhelmed no matter what sort of level class they were in. I don’t think we should have valedictorians until we fix our broken system.
(Besides, being able to spend more than 1+ hour on homework a night.. That’s something only privileged kids can experience!! Not all kids have thatl luxury!! And HOMEWORK usually is the defining factor in whether a student has a high grade or not! Academic performance ≠ Academic excellence!!!!!)
Anyways I’d love to hear your thoughts on my take.
Ron Don Crypto God • Jul 8, 2023 at 1:02 am
Here’s some food for thought from the high school drop out that never liked school wasn’t any good at tests and really didn’t feel like I had anything to gain from being babysat and forced to learn and study and be tested on things that really doesn’t even matter in the real world and I’m not saying people who grind hard do the extra things they feel is necessary isn’t good or anything like that good for you if that’s what you wanted to do and you put in all the time hard work and effort to do so but when it’s all said and done and you graduate if you did and you choose to go to college and graduate from there I’m 25 now woulda graduated in 2016 and I know people I went to school with that went to college and come home after some putting themselves so far in debt to go there and graduate and come home to be forced to get a simple 9-5 job that they didn’t even study for because everyone thinks and is honestly if you asked me pushed towards to going to college to get a degree in something that they can’t even get a job for sometimes and then maybe 10% of people I know and I went to private school kindergarten to 8th grade (not that even matters) and know some of the smartest book smart people I’ve still ever met to this day and they said if they could they woulda looked Into going to trade school or doing something different like I said I dropped out at basically 17 really right in the middle of what should of been my senior year but was still my sophomore year and ended up making after taxes a 6 figure salary a year doing nothing but sitting on my computer for maybe 45 mins a couple days a week max at 19 years old why even deal with all that stress and tests now a days there’s more ways than ever to make a living and really live a life of your own choice little to no stress why don’t we push towards that maybe have someone come to the high school graduation who’s done something that people can take and help themselves out to be able to live and do what they want to and if helping people is what you wanna do and that takes a degree I get it I do but now a days people stress more with less reward and maybe I sound illiterate and don’t have good grammar but aye if I can do it y’all with high gpa’s and top of the classes should be able to too