In late April, I received a confidential memo from Joan, asking for my opinion concerning this year’s choice for Valedictorian. I was being asked to break a tie.
In the past, far past--in my school days--this would never have happened. In 1981, I was awarded co-Valedictorian status with another student (with whom I had won "Most Likely to Succeed" and who has gone on to UCLA on the way to becoming a doctor [guess the Class of ‘81 batted only .500 on that one]). We both had the same grade point average with straight A’s, so we were both awarded the honor.
Sometime between 1981 and 1986 (when I returned to work in the P.V.U.H.S.D.), things had changed. With the advent of Honors courses (which added a grade point to the system--Honors grades of A receive five, rather than four, points), some parents had lobbied for and received a change in the way Valedictorians were chosen. In the new selection process, there would be only one Valedictorian, and all classes would be worth the same four points (no differentiation would be made for the more difficult and challenging Honors courses); in this way, so the argument went, no standard student who had worked hard for her four years would be automatically overlooked for the honor of Valedictorian just because of the classes she had taken.
Bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit.
Initiative, determination, and perseverance should be lauded. Honors classes should be rewarded. But no one asked the teachers.
Until now.
Joan’s memo named two students who were the candidates: Betty, one of my topflight 4H’s, and Jeff, the student who had allowed his buddy to copy his English 3H Book Report Essay. He is really a bright young man, nice and polite. This is the best that I can say about him. Out of fear or out of laziness, he decided to forego English 4Honors. Thus, my decision should have been simple.
And yet, I felt myself second-guessing myself. I did a great deal of soul-searching on this one. I did not want any subconscious feelings--divine retribution for plagiarism nor vengeance for nearly sinking my position as English 4H teacher--to color my feelings. I recalled back to their individual achievements in 3H. The better student? Betty, by far. The better writer? Betty, hands down. The more insightful reader? Betty, no competition. And it was this sense of "no competition" that sealed it. Jeff rarely participated in class discussions. He was a rote learner from all that I could tell at the time, or could remember now. Betty was the choice.
And so I responded to Joan’s memo with simple statement that based on the comparison of their contemporary performance in last year’s English 3H class (since I could not compare this year’s performance as Jeff had opted out of the Honors strand--and this I mentioned), Betty was the more worthy candidate.
I never heard one way or the other about the outcome of the selection process.
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