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Source: The Wachusett Regional School Committee has voted unanimously to do away with class ranks for students at the high school. Principal William P. Beando and Jon Krol, director of guidance, recommended the elimination of class ranking because class rankings can have a detrimental effect on students who have good grades, but may not be in the top 10 percent of their class.
“We had one student who had a 93.1 grade point average, who was 54th in her class,” Mr. Krol said. “If we release formal class rankings, she is not eligible for the Honors College at UMass Amherst. But if we don’t, she meets all the other criteria.”
I’m gonna let Sean Connery get right to the point with this one, because you can probably imagine how Turtleboy feels about this topic:
This is it folks. This is what the “everyone gets a trophy” philosophy looks like when it permeates into high school. So a kid had a 93.1 average and was 54th in her class. You know what that tells me? Classes are too easy. If there’s that many kids getting straight A’s then A’s are too easy to get. Oh, you tried your best? Congratulations. So did Rudy, which is why he only got into a blowout game at the end because everyone felt bad for him. Rudy didn’t get a scholarship because he ultimately he tried his best but he still sucked.
Class rank shows where you are relative to your peers. You were the 54th best student in your school over four years. If 53 kids from Holden, Paxton, Sterling, Princeton, and Rutland can beat you, then imagine how many kids are gonna beat you once you get to college. Your 93 won’t be a 93 in Honor’s College, therefore you don’t belong in Honor’s College at UMass. Welcome to reality – where your achievements are ranked against your competitors.
Apparently over 50% of high schools nationwide have already implemented this “no class rank” thing, which says a lot about the state of America right now. It’s just such bullshit. For the rest of your life you’re going to have to compete against other people for a limited amount of spots. If a company has one position open, and 50 people apply, how many of them are getting the job? Oh yea, one. What if 45 of them are really good? Oh yea, still just one. Because in life there are winners and losers, and winners get to go home with the prom queen.
Here’s what colleges should do. If a kid applying to your school goes to one of these high schools that doesn’t have a class rank, that kid goes to the bottom of the pile. Because we can’t take your school seriously anymore. That’s the only way to fight back against this insanity. Stop taking schools like this seriously. Then they’ll have no choice but to keep their class rankings. I know I’d be pissed if I worked my ass off to finish in the top 10 in my class, and then I got passed up for some kid who went to the “everyone gets a trophy” high school.
The bottom line is that if you want to get into the Honor’s College at UMass, then don’t finish 54th in your class. The 53 kids who finished in front of you are doing something that you’re not. Figure out what that is and beat them or stop whining about losing to them. This is how the real world works. Unfortunately adults aren’t interested in preparing kids for reality anymore.
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34 Comment(s)
Clearly you don’t have much experience at Wachusett. It is an extremely high preforming school where a significant number of students take 5-6 AP courses a year. Additionally the claim that “classes are too easy” is invalid given the pass rate on the AP tests for Wachusett.
When it comes right down to it class rank is meant to reflect where students stand compared to each other. When 0.1 points separate 55th and 15th it is not a good system. It makes it seem like there is a radical difference between these two students however that difference could be solely from a single forgotten homework assignment freshman year.
Class rank was phased out not because “everyone is a winner” but because the top 25% of the students are near perfection and with class sizes around 600 kids you have 150 kids that are academically identically yet radically different in ranking.
Colleges already do not trust high school grades. Now this nonsense. I mean who would with more than half getting A’s. This is why it is difficult to have respect for education administrators. In the world, everyone does not get a trophy and hate to say it but junior might be special to you but he or she is not special to the rets of the world. Just average.
Beando is a drooling idiot. He has also cancelled the homecoming dance court. No more King and queen because everyone is a winner. Also ask him about the racist graffiti which was sprayed on lockers two years ago. Weird how that didn’t get out to the media.
Beando has no control. Listens to the loudest parent. No balls. Betcha Pandiscio is still calling the shots.
My daughter went to a very small high school with about 75 kids in her grade. She took 3 Ap classes and got a 3, 4 and 5 on the exams. She graduated with a weighted GPA of 4.61. She got SAT scores in the high 600’s or low 700’s, she aced the MCAS and she was involved to several extracurricular activities. When she was applying for college, she didn’t quite make it into the top 10% of her class but by the time she graduated she did. She didn’t get into Hamilton because she wasn’t in the top 10% at the time she applied. It’s a stupid system and I think all schools should get rid of it.
Is there anything that exemplifies the “Wussification of American” more than some MA educated kid bitching about “winners and losers”? The irony is painful.
I was in the bottom 10% of my class at South high and failed out of Quinsig. My sister was the only one in my family to graduate college with a degree in theology from some online school.
Lol I almost missed the article among this sea of advertisements, merch peddling, and tags.
Umass Amherst is extremely competitive to get into and the Honors College is even harder to get into. it appears that this rule change is being done to benefit one child. I agree that if she is 54th with a GPA of over 93 something is wrong. Also, is it a weighted GPA. is she taking easy classes to get the A’s while the other kids are taking honors and AP classes to get their A’s. it makes a big difference in the GPA. I do not believe she should get into the Honors College at any state school if she does not deserve it. By the way, my son is in the Commonwealth Honors Program at a state school, He worked extremely hard for his grades and took the harder courses and it paid off. He has to work extremely hard in college and if he had ridden on taking easy courses just for the grades he would not be able to do it. Keep the weighted GPA’s so the kids that deserve the kudos get them.
Word has it the superintendent’s kid didn’t get into UMass Honors due to class rank… Hmmmm. Mom also complained the kid didn’t get into national honor society and the principal overrode the selection committee. This is a troubled distinct. Inmates running the asylum .
Someone should get the Wachusett School Committee involved in looking into this allegation. It is a clear ethics violation If administrators are using their positions to steal from the public system by getting their child a free seat in a competitive state sponsored college program and the school committee has an obligation to investigate. This shit happens all the time with these people. Remember the principal who lived in Westborough and worked in Brockton who brought her kid to her Brockton school which helped her get a “state scholarship”. That lady is toast and that’s what these administrators should be too if this is true.
Where is Stacy Jackson? She should be all over this one; she is such a fine elected official.
Can someone look into this shit?
I think it’s a smart move for Wachusett. At the end of the day, there are a lot of colleges out there that aren’t going to accept kids with a low class rank, even if their grades are good. Ivy league schools won’t take kids unless they’re 1 or 2, but Newton sends dozens of kids to Ivies each year, because they don’t calculate class rank (any because their wealthy).
Also, if you’re a white kid in a town like Acton, with a huge Chinese population, then you’ve really got no chance at having a high class rank. You’re competing against an army of academic warriors. So take class rank out of the calculation, and the top white kids still have good grades.
I get the wussification angle. It is true. But if it increases the college acceptance rate, and gets kids into better schools, then it’s a smart thing to do. It’ll improve Wachusett’s reputation, which will raise property values, etc.
Why does everyone still believe that Grades and Achievements in High School will equal Grades and Achievements in College ? Just because your kid is top ten percent in a townie high, what makes you think they can do the same in an Ivy League school ? Or honors classes in High school is the same as Honors Classes in College ? A school valedictorian can and will fail, while a middle of the road student can turn their study skills and attitude around.
Case in point – I knew a neighbor who had a teenage daughter. Every time I saw him it was all “My daughter is starring in the play, My daughter is star cheerleader, My daughter had all As, My daughter got into WPI.” Awesome, great. I kept thinking “Big fish, little pond”. Daughter dropped out after three years and taking out over $100 grand in loans. Works at Target.
A+ blog TB. I worked hard in high school (Hudson) and was 6th in my class. You know what I got for it? Nothing. Unless I was 1 or 2, that’s the deal. Everyone knew it. The kids that got 1 and 2 outworked and were smarter than I was. That’s fine. But I earned 6 and I was damn proud of that. What do kids have to be proud of anymore if everyone gets a reward? 54th and you want recognition??? Get the hell out of here with that nonsense.
High school core classes are far too easy, so rankings are a joke.
And 98% of the schools ONLY teach/preach to pass the MCAS.
After 10th grade, they don’t give a crap.
Clearly you don’t know much about Wachusett. The AP tests scores out of Wachusett indicate that classes are not “far too easy”
Look, they put the reason right out there. They are trying to screw around with the state scholarships and freebie opportunities that kids from public schools can get for having good grades and being in the top 10%. If the school doesn’t rank the kids then everyone with the good grades can get the freebies. Essentially they are sucking away more of your tax dollars with this move. The law now says a kid who is in the top 10% and gets one advanced and at least all proficient can have free tuition to any Massachusetts state college or university. If a school doesn’t have ranking then it’s just about the test scores. Imagine that. Free college tuition for all of the little ones from Holden, not just the top 10% of them. How to mess with the system. That’s how.
Not quite. Students also have to score advanced on MCAS. So the 10% rule limits access to scholarships from high performance schools.
So basically extremely talented students are being penalized because all their peers are also talented.
I had no idea what my rank was in high school, nor did I really care… I wasn’t going to college anyway, so what did I care?
I did…..and it wasn’t pretty
Except that this poor schlub is still 54th in their class, there just isn’t a formalized ranking.
It’s like when you have the pussy “everyone wins because we don’t keep score” sports, and the parents are sitting in the stands keeping track anyway.
That has always pissed me off, for some reason even more than this school issue.
Mainly because if all of us are in AP classes, and I get a 90 but finish dead last, I am still incredibly hard working and intelligent. I am just barely shy of a 4.0. There really is nothing at all wrong with that, it still gets me into a great school. I do agree though, that if I want Harvard or Yale, I need to be in the top 10th percentile, and I need a rank to know where I stand against the others I am competing with.
But keeping score in sports is an excellent way to gauge your training progress as an individual and a team. If a kid has the ability to go to the MLB, he will never know his true potential unless he pushes himself to win. No winner=no motivation. My motivation to get better needs a driving force, and winning/being the best is great for most people. Very few people are actually internally motivated to be the best on their own.
TL;DR We need rankings in school and sports. How the Hell else can you understand your progress, current position, competition, and necessary adaptations needed to do improve?
They are moving this way with their sports too! Had one of the most successful baseball coaches and asked him to leave because he was “too concerned about winning”… Parents had complained about cuts and playing time. Just wait college coaches and professors, these parents are coming after you too!
Hey Mitch I’d put a dollar to your dime that south high has put more kids in Harvard the last ten years than Wachusett.. Look it up you “Rubba”
Yea turtle boy your a squid I don’t care about this but shitty story. I went to wachusett there were 550 people in my class so 54th is the top ten percent. Not like most schools with 200 in their class. It is dumb to take away class ranks but top 100 in wachusett beats top 50 out of any worcester school hands down.
I think you’re missing the point.. If I get a 92 and there are 100 people in my class and you get a 92 and there are 500 people in your class… We were equally as smart as eachother but I have better opportunities because of the school my parents chose to put me in when they moved to the town I went to high school in.
Idk just sayin this isn’t really a good example of the pussification of America because it’s just a numbers game/facts.
Kelly, your comment makes it hard to believe you’re getting a 92 in anything.
Rob, Kelly’s comments are accurate.
Class rank does not tell you anything about the quality or knowledge level of the student. It only gives you a rough estimate of how many people at that school have a better GPA and how many have lower GPA.
The analogy of the 1 job with applicants is slightly flawed. It is true that only 1 person will get the job no matter how many apply. However, the employer will take all the applications and rank them against each other, not adopt a ranking of the person at the previous job they worked, ranked against the other employees at that other company.
That’s why we use PERCENTAGES. Crazy. 100 kids top 10 % = 10 kids. 500 kids top 10 % = 50 kids. Funny how that works
J, your math is correct 10% of 100 is 10 and 10% of 500 is 50, but what is your point?
Please refer to my comment about an employer. They would not care what percentage of your class you ranked in. Unless of course, all the schoolmates you were ranked against (and only those schoolmates) were applying for that job. An employer that eliminates based on class ranking (percentage or raw rank) would be doing themselves a disservice if they truly wanted to find the best candidate for a job. Just as a school does themselves a disservice by dong it with their applicants.
Yes, because elimination of class ranks magically eliminates differences in GPA.
Given that the difference between GPA of 1st and 20th in my year was less than 1 point there wasn’t a difference in GPA to begin with yet the class rank suggested there was a significant difference in performance.