Black Valedictorian at Arkansas School has a White "Co-Valedictorian" appointed

[smileyeagle1021]

One article suggested that's what they were referencing. So hey, instead of racists they might just be assholes.

Either way, I'm glad they're getting sued. Shame on them for not properly honoring someone who worked her ass off to be valedictorian.

THat was my first reaction, that most likely this was less about race, and more about not wanting to admit that an unwed teenage mother could actually make something of her life.

[Nyoibo]

Part of the court document mentiones that Thompson "read something in the handbook" I'm now wondering what that might have been.

[lupo pazzesco]

Part of the court document mentiones that Thompson "read something in the handbook" I'm now wondering what that might have been.

I'm wondering if he just mentioned reading something in the handbook, so he'd have "proof' for why he made the decisions he did. He could simply say, "well, it's in the handbook" and not think anyone would call him on it.

[mikoyan29]

Wow....Just wow...

[Racket_Man]

I saw this article earlier.

my HS was predominantly white as in 99.9999% white (1500) with 10 black students. my HS was really the only "white" HS in the city of 11 HSs. 3 were mixed (from 30% to 60% black) to 7 that were predominately (90%) to all black

that did change after I left as court ordered bussing was forced upon the city

it also depends on how the defination of Valedictorian is defined.
some schools define it as
the highest GPA and no other criteria

some schools define it as above mixed in with participation in any combination of clubs, sports, community activities/service, school participation, mentoring, student council, or any number of a variety of extra-curicular activities.

[PepperElf]

i haven't read the article yet but out of curiosity... does the school normally have a "runner up"?

if the school normally does this anyway then it's not racism.
if they did it specifically for this instance it could qualify - assuming race was the reason for it.

[AdminAssistant]

Typically you have a Valedictorian and a Salutatorian*. In cases where the GPA is a tie, they will declare Co-Valedictorians (or Salutatorians, depending on who ties). That happened to my sister. I'm guessing that the white girl would have been the Salutatorian anyway. (Still pretty good, I was Salutatorian and I got the title, a sash, and got invited to meet the Governor.)

I do think these things should be based solely on GPA, with class difficulty figured into the formula. You start adding extra-curricular activities into the mix, and the decision is no longer objective, it's subjective, and that leads to a lot of drama and hurt feelings.

*I know some very large schools have eliminated this because they wind up with 14 Valedictorians. Other schools have eliminated it because they don't want to hurt feelings by celebrating academic excellence.

[PepperElf]

that's what i'm wondering too....

it could easily be something that would have happened anyway regardless of the skin color of the Valedictorian. The real issue may be that some groups want to create a race-based scandal even if race was never a factor.

[Ghel]

Why are you folks trying so hard to downplay the role of race? We're talking about a school that has systematically discouraged non-white students from taking honors classes. A school that, despite having an almost even ratio of white to black students, hasn't had a black valedictorian in over 20 years. A school that, after initially announcing Wimberly as valedictorian, changed their minds and announced a co-valedictorian because of "something in the handbook", as if they were just looking for an excuse to downplay Wimberly's acheivement.

Suppose she was regarded as less worthy because she was a woman with a child. Does that make it all better?

[Andara Bledin]

Because assumptions are not fact. Even if they are most likely correct, it's also possible that by assuming the easiest reason is the reason, the real reason will go unaddressed.

What we do know is that there is bigotry involved. That is undisputed. What form that bigotry takes is still in the discovery phase and will be brought to light as the case proceeds.

^-.-^

[Nyoibo]

Having a co-valedictorian wouldn't have been an issue, had the other student had the same grade, the fact she had a lower grade kind of indicates that wasn't the case.

[PepperElf]

Simple... just because someone claims "OMG IT'S RACISM!" doesn't mean it really is.


Navy example I learned about in my Leadership Course.

Junior sailor (JS) was race X. Most of his division (if not all) was race Y. JS wasn't being granted some of the privileges the others had, and was being given crappier jobs and duties.

JS reported it to the command as racism. Was it?

The answer?.... No. It wasn't racism. Even though he was X and everyone else was Y. How is that? JS had been assigned qualifications to complete (Navy calls it PQS). Completing the PQS was required (for all races and genders) before moving up in the division to the better watches and more privileges.


lesson of the day?... pulling a race card doesn't automatically mean it's racism or even related to race.



as for the co mentioned in the article... her grades were lower than the winner... but how much lower... and by the school's ranking system was she truly in second place or much lower?

I mean the way people talk it sounds as if the V was an A+ student and the co was a D+ student, but that may not be the case at all.

[AdminAssistant]

Another reason for skepticism is that all the information released has been one-sided, mostly pulled from the court documents.

[Evandril]

as for the co mentioned in the article... her grades were lower than the winner... but how much lower... and by the school's ranking system was she truly in second place or much lower?

I mean the way people talk it sounds as if the V was an A+ student and the co was a D+ student, but that may not be the case at all.

The main point is, if one student is an A+, and the other is an A, they get a Valedictorian and a Salutatorian, in most cases. If both are A+, then they share the honors...but in this case, they aren't equal, and are being made equal after the fact, based on the information given. She's presented as being in second place, but is being given the honors of first, along with the person who earned it.

[KnitShoni]

There's also the issue of the separate announcements. If they have a system of co-valedictorians already in place, why announce one person as *the* valedictorian, then announce later that another person is sharing that title?