Yahoo! News - Judge Names

by phil on Saturday May 10, 2003 11:20 AM
News

Yahoo! News - Judge Names N.J. Student Valedictorian A high school student who sued to claim the title of valedictorian as hers alone doesn't have to share the honor with two other students with lower grade point averages, a judge ruled Thursday.

On one hand, the knee-jerk reaction is that this kid is being bratty and should learn to share. Another part of me thinks that this is just the spin of the story.

I can remember often being outspoken in High School. One of the more annoying cases, and this would inevitably happen every semester, was when I knew that the only thing holding me back from a certain grade was the silly whim of the teacher. Grading has elements of subjectivity and nobody is impervious to playing favorites. Arguing against those situations were impossibly difficult to win because of the nature of argument. When you argue, you have to use words and phrases that show a certain perspective on a situation such that the other person wants to change their mind. The problem I had was that everything I'd say, as true as it my point may be, would always carry a certain spin by its appearance. Any plea for a grade change automatically looks like you're being greedy. Many would say, well, "tough luck." In my mind I respond, why should I be the one to get the "tough luck" and not the teacher who is just being stubborn and playing favorites? Others would say, well, "that's life." But why is it that the teacher's incorrect version of "life" be the one that gets enforced and not mine?

Idealism 0, Realpolitik 1. *sland*