Beginning 2026, there will be no more valedictorian designation for a Colorado school district's graduating high school class as its officials deemed that learning should not be a competition.
According to Fox News Denver, the Cherry Creek School District in the Arapahoe County in Colorado will remove the academic recognition for students with the highest grade point average (GPA) among the graduates.
Parents were already informed about the changes, citing in a recent newsletter that the practice of recognizing the valedictorian is an outdated tradition. This also means that there will be no more farewell valedictory addresses. The tradition of a valedictorian designation and a valedictory address in schools go back to early 12th century Europe.
The school district officials said that learning should not be a competition to rank. They also believe that all students are capable of learning "at high levels."
Class Rank No Longer a Factor
Officials of the school district further said that they decided to remove the valedictorian designation after consulting with local colleges and universities. In particular, Todd Rinehart, the vice-chancellor of the University of Denver, said that several colleges no longer factor in class ranking to admit a student for college.
Rinehart also told ABC Denver that the senior students usually apply for college from fall to winter, when it's still too early to determine the class ranking, which happens three or four months later. The vice-chancellor also implied that the metrics vary with different academic institutions; thus, the class ranking will not accurately measure a student's aptitude.
"You can have students ranked very highly in their school, but if they take a different curriculum, their grades aren't necessarily the same," Rinehart said.
Cherry Creek School District said that it will still reward stellar academic performances through an honor roll, GPA honor cords at the graduation ceremony, and other citations in separate awards events. The school district is not the first to scrap the valedictorian designation in high school. Boulder Valley School District dropped the practice in 2007, while the Colorado Springs School District 11 also no longer uses the designation since 2018.
Parents Unhappy with Decision
Despite the decision, some parents expressed their disappointment because it will take away what the students have been working hard for. Mom Kristen Stone said that the children go through stress to achieve a high rank in class, but their efforts will not be recognized.
Some netizens said that the decision would reward mediocrity in school since it discourages competition. According to the Daily Mail, Vivek Ramaswamy, a political pundit, implied that sacrificing excellence is pandering to the woke culture's concept of diversity and equality.
Despite the comments, Cherry Creek School District is proud of its students' performance for 2021, when the school achieved a 90.7 percent graduation rate, a definitive increase from the previous year. The school also said it beat the state average of 81.7 percent and the country's average of 86 percent.
