Dedham and Canton are among the growing number of high schools in the country who are dropping the traditional class ranking system. In Dedham and many other places, students can still see what percentile they belong to, but no longer are ranked by individual number. According to a recent study from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 40 percent of all American high schools have stopped ranking students or have stopped reporting it to colleges. Other local towns that have eliminated class rank are Duxbury, Hingham, Sharon, and Westwood. It is now time for Walpole to join this growing group too.
Walpole High continues to rank students by class and allows them to know what their personal ranking is. Typically, only the top two class rankings are reported to colleges and the other hundred students’ rankings are disregarded. Walpole High needs to drop their class ranking systems because poor rankings can unfairly hurt a student’s chance at getting into a college. Some colleges and universities will not even consider a student if they are not in the top 50 percent of their class. Because class rank is a mathematical summary of a student’s academic record it can sometimes mask their true talent. One may be mediocre academically, but excel in other areas like art, music, or athletics. Class rank just focuses on one aspect of a student’s life and they should not be judged solely on this number. Transcripts do not take into consideration extra-curricular activities, so participating in sports or playing a musical instrument has no effect on class rank. As a result, students may be discouraged from trying new things outside the classroom. Colleges have plenty of other scores they are able to measure applicants on like MCAS, SATs, and grade point averages.
When asked if Walpole High should join the other schools and drop class rank, Mrs. Jennifer Dolan, Guidance Department Head said, “even if we didn’t have class rank here people would still have a general idea of where they are.” The question is whether Walpole wants to change the ranking system from numbers to decile percentages.
In addition, class ranking can bring about unnecessary competition among students and peers. High school is stressful enough without having to deal with the added pressure of trying to possess a higher class rank than one’s best friend – who we can call number 56. Of course there is the status and prestige of being in the top 10 for both students and their parents, but what about number 11 or number 189? Just because they do not measure up academically to the top students does not mean they are bad kids. Competition should be within each individual student, they should want to challenge themselves and do the best they can without comparing their abilities to anyone else.
Mrs. Dolan said, “class rank can be a motivating factor, but also defeating for students.” Class rank can push a student to do their very best academically, but too much focus on the exact number just leads to more stress. Also, Mrs. Dolan said there is usually a 0.1 percent difference between the number 10 and 20 ranked students in each grade level. There is such a minor difference between each rank that this system is completely pointless. The point of class rank is to show colleges where a student is in his or her class compared to their peers, but how can one get an accurate comparison when there is barely any difference between each individual rank?
All in all, class rank is just a mere number that should not define a student’s character in Walpole High or in any other town. By eliminating class rank, students will feel less pressure to measure up to friends and other students. It is time for Walpole High to follow in the footsteps of multiple other high schools and abolish it completely.
