More High Schools Consider Eliminating Class Rankings

I certainly agree with the mentality of eliminating rank - however it is dependent on the school and the classes which are offered. I am a high school Junior and the valedictorian of the class, and there have been several instances of students who were not acknowledged for their considerable academic performance,

As for the Advanced Placement program- there are positive and negative attributes. It is beneficial that college-level material is (hopefully) becoming available to disadvantaged schools with advanced students as well as students who are capable of increasing their capacity for effort. However, the program is narrow-minded and not holistic enough as what is important is simply a grade on a standard test, and not the effort expended in the class. Not to mention, are college admissions officers capable of gauging the difficulty of these courses? Many secondary schools limit the amount of advanced placement courses as well even to the most accelerated students. If college admissions are this "linear" in their perspective and only regard instant-gratification such as the number of AP courses a student took as well as standardized test scores, they are not truly observing the capacity, character, and intellectual curiosity of a student.

In my particular instances, my schedule only allowed me to take three Advanced Placement courses - English, Calculus, and Chemistry. I became highly frustrated, and therefore took courses at extension programs (psychology and history of the Middle Ages, as well as two Harvard courses (French immersion and Shakespearean literature) through their wonderful extension program. I have also been highly motivated outside of a school or college campus by completing coursework from MIT's Open Courseware in anything from neurobiology to the Fourier Series. Yet, no student can be credited for being a self-guided learner to challenge themselves with more advanced material than they can find in their high school as there is no standard exam to take. I find it more important that students take actual college courses because it exposes them to the atmosphere, work ethic, and academic maturity that the must acquire to be prepared for college - not simply being taught to a test. As a matter of fact, I find that teaching to a test is so archaic that I might simply take courses at the extension full time as a Senior.

Considering rank once more, for schools who teach advanced material beyond AP (yes, there are schools which teach classes that are more difficult, such as Multivariable Calculus and difficult philosophy courses), rank should not exist. You cannot determine the better student simply upon numbers.

Olivia Mello of MA 4:51PM February 28, 2009