Cut-Throat Competition for Top High School Honor

June 3, 2005 — -- As most high school seniors prepare to graduate this month, the competition to finish at the head of the class is growing quite fierce in many communities. Some students and parents are resorting to extraordinary measures.

High school senior Julia Keblinska thought she had a lock on valedictorian at her school outside Albany, N.Y., but then learned that a student who took no advanced classes beat her grade point average.

During her entire high school career, the lowest grade Julia Keblinska got was an A-minus in gym. It is a record all the more impressive because she took six advanced placement classes.

"You've definitely worked harder and proved more academic excellence than if you had just taken the regular course, which would have been a breeze for some smarter students," she said.

Her parents complained to the school board, saying the school chose "a just good student over an excellent one." But their plea was unsuccessful.

"We are disappointed," said Julia's father, Pawel. "Our daughter obviously was hurt."

Across the country, some students are going so far as to sue to become valedictorian.

In 2003, Sarah Bird -- a second-ranked high school senior at Plano West Senior High School, in Plano, Texas -- hired a lawyer to get the school board to name her co-valedictorian.

"Had it not gone on our way at the school board hearing, we were prepared to file a lawsuit," said Brent William Bailey, Bird's attorney. According to Bailey, the school miscalculated her grade point average.

Denise Pope, who directs the Stressed Out Students project at Stanford University's School of Education, blames aggressive parents and increased competition for college admissions.

"The valedictorian tradition used to be a way to honor really good kids who worked hard," she said. "Now it's turned into a dog-eat-dog competition."

On Sunday, Adlai Stephenson High School, located outside Chicago, will join a growing number of high schools that are ending the tradition altogether.