Howard Ellis: Healthy competition

The reason given for eliminating valedictorians in the Wake County schools is excessive competition. That is not a rational reason. Whatever one may think about such competition (I favor it) it is a competition among maybe 10 students in any given graduating class who are in the running for the honor. It doesn’t affect the behavior of the rest of the seniors one way or the other.

Most students know after 10th grade whether they have any chance, and most put it out of their minds forever. I know I did. I’m happy to let the best compete for the singular honor. They should be honored for their academic achievement much as we honor the football or basketball player of the year. Or should we stop giving those honors, too, because it causes the best athletes to compete against each other even harder?

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Howard Ellis: Healthy competition."