Colleges have a role, secondary to education, that not many people realize. As institutions, they set the tone for how students should learn, and what the deeper purpose of that learning may be. This tone can be found in mission statements and mottos, but is sometimes evasive on campuses themselves. Barnard sets this tone in a multiplicity of ways, but when I was a prospective student, one way stood out. Barnard does not have a valedictorian or a salutatorian.
Valedictorians and salutatorians are well worn traditions of academia. The two students whose GPA's rose high above the rest are presented at graduations in high schools and colleges every year. It can be a goal to work toward and an honor to bestow upon hardworking students. But in today’s grade conscious society, they can do more harm than good.
Having a valedictorian and salutatorian, or ranking in general, has a nasty undertone. It can cause undue competition between student who fight for that treasured number one position. At competitive and elite schools, such as our own, it has the potential to add to the already steaming pressure cooker. To attain a higher position, students may opt for courses they know will be easier. While the easy A may be a seductive title for any class, it keeps students from challenging themselves and stepping beyond their academic comfort zone. Especially for a student entering college with the hopes of matching their top-of-the-class reputation, ranking makes for an impossible standard that chokes adventure and deeper learning.
This does not mean honors societies are invalid. They ought to be taken for what they are, though. The girl who just missed the mark for an academic honor likely worked just as hard as you did. As a school promoting women and female empowerment, it is the job of each student to lift one another up — summa cum laude or not.
In not having a valedictorian or salutatorian, Barnard speaks to a different and important academic philosophy. While the school is still competitive, with students bursting with intelligence and innovation, the lack of this ranking keeps competition from being institutional. It also pushes students to learn for the sake of learning. Barnard encourages students to work toward a higher goal than a GPA. What you learn in the classroom, you have a duty to use in the outside world.
The insanely difficult political science course you took may have given you a B, but when it helps you to better your community, none of that will matter. Your dance class may be early and trying, but your technique will improve exponentially. That math course where, with a curve 40 percent constitutes an A will be daunting; you will leave it fluent in the language of calculus in a way you had never imagined. It is not the grade you made in the course, but what you did with that knowledge which will define you in the future. Our responsibility, as students, is to look upon our education as a privilege. The fruits of your labors for these four years is the betterment of yourself and those around you.
