She’s the Girl They Love to Hate

Newsweek via www.msnbc ^ | june 23 | Julie Scelfo and Barbara Kantrowitz

[Trust but Verify]

Couldn't tell you except for what is in the story. Everyone is treating her like she got the golden egg. Do you think it's more important for her to be #1 than to be liked? Did you read about how she has been treated in school?

[sine_nomine]

The school may have been wrong but I find it disturbing to go to court over an administrative decision. That really soured the situation, in my opinion. If I had an acceptance from Harvard and the top GPA, I think I could accept another validictorian going to Harvard at the big bash.

The response to her lawsuit is really loutish. I think we are now living in the ultimate nightmare - spoiled, self-centered Boomers and their even worse children acting up in public. I am a Boomer but a self-loathing one.

[LanPB01]

How did she "win"? This whole system was rigged in her favor. Every article I've seen about her sights the fact that she was able to take honor courses that are weighted, giving her and her alone the opportunity to achieve a higher GPA than anyone else. It's the equivalent of starting her on a scale where she could reach a GPA of 5.0, while the rest of her classmates could only reach a 4.0.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Yes, I think that with the right connections they will admit anyone to Harvard. Apparently you haven't seen the work generated by some Harvard students and alumni?

[LanPB01]

I attended a relatively low ranking law school. At the beginning of my second year, a guy I went to high school with (and who had attended Harvard as an undergraduate) enrolled at the same law school. He quit after three weeks, saying it was too much work. That pretty much told me all I needed to know about how bloated and ridiculous Harvard's reputation has become.

[Trust but Verify]

So, you are saying the kids in school were not allowed to take honors or AP classes? I find that incredibly hard to beleive. ALL HS, especially one in such an affluent area where getting admitted to an Ivy League school is so important, offer those types of classes. In fact, I would think it almost impossible to get into a Harvard or Princeton without having some honors or AP courses on your transcript.

My daughter's school district did not wieght AP and honors classes. Those were the rules, parents and students knew it, and if a kid who took no honors classes had been Valedictorian, we would've lived with it, although not happily.

[RecklessConservative]

I'm sure she will fit in nicely at the ACLU.

[LanPB01]

No, the other articles I've read about this situation said other students could take SOME honors and AP courses. But this girl, as a result of having a "disability", was able to take more than the rest. Her curriculum gave her an advantage. And apparently, the did weigh them in her district.

[independentmind]

Of course, non-fatigued students can take AP classes. But as most students know, it's hard to take advantage of all AP classes due to scheduling problems.Only someone who has the luxury of private tutors could schedule classes in such a manner that she could take as many as she wanted.

[headsonpikes]

"Actually, she was trying to get the powers that be to stand by the rules they made."

But against, apparently, the principles of natural justice.

Appropriate behavior for a lawyer wannabe.

I learned that the PTB only maintained an appearance of equity and fair play somewhere around Grade IX. I doubt that my experience is atypical. If this girl's so frightfully bright why hasn't she learned this important life lesson?

Oh, that's right; she learned the opposite lesson - how to game the system.

[Trust but Verify]

Well, my daughter's best friend was the valedictorian of her HS class of 2002. She's the most driven, enrgetic, hard-working and focused person I have ever met. She has a 4.0 at the University of Wisconsin and is a member of the marching band, volunteers DAILY at her church and this summer is working as a camp counselor.

She literally cannot put her shirt on the right way. Many people who are book smart and driven are lacking in other areas.

[LanPB01]

If someone in your daughter's district had this disability, they would have been exempt from a lot of classes the regular students were required to take (I don't know exactly what all of them were, but I imagine there were a few physical education classes in there). While your daughter was learning how to spike a volleyball on a 4.0 scale, the "disabled" student could take AP Calculus on a 5.0 scale.

[Trust but Verify]

That MAY be, but I haven't seen anything in any articles about this. I know of HS kids who took 6-8 AP classes plus honors classes, all withing the walls of their school.

[glory]

I'm not sure where to put this suggestion, so I am going to attach it to this post.
I would think if anything, this young lady is a testament to how using the school system at the high school level ala carte(like college) would be beneficial for students. If she had any gumption she'd get into her field to advocate that students be allowed a mixture of homeschool and public school and that high schools go ala carte. Instead of moaning about her having an unfair advantage(much like ps and teachers do about spelling bees when many homeschoolers place), perhaps her peers and others will recognize that this is perhaps a superior way to learn to what they are getting. It seems the system is what needs to be scrutinized, but you'll be hard pressed to find children or parents OR teachers criticizing the status quo with education below the college level. My gosh, it is the golden calf in the town I live in--this community is so centered on the schools it's ridiculous(notice I said centered on the schools, not education).

[independentmind]

It isn't a matter of maybe. The superintendent specifically cited that reason as a determining factor is his (her?) decision to make another student co-valedictorian. You do understand, that this girl wasn't being denied the honor? She, or most likely, her parents, wanted the honor exclusively. And you think this drivel is worth a lawsuit? Are you sure you're on the right website?

(And people question my conservative credentials.LOL)

[dennisw]

Thanks!

[glory]

That does put it in a different light. HOwever I still stand by the notion that children, particularly at high school level, would be better served by an ala carte system like college at that level.

I can't help wondering though how this young lady is going to work 70-80 hour work weeks which is typical for new lawyers if she could not even attend 35 hours of school a week?

[JCG]

But why should other students suffer because one student and her parents gamed the system.

Life isn't fair and poorly drafted rules make it less so. It's tough, I know, but that's life.

America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
http://video.ire.org/10650.ram (Requires RealPlayer)

Who is Steve Emerson?

[skinkinthegrass]

... maybe another Hillary!

She better watch-out...$hrillary's always on the look-out for imposters to her (presumed) throne /or close to Bubba (the i42/serial rapist-traitor/$upreme Fundraiser)...the Litte Rock Mafia has never stopped doing the will of $hrillary.

[dennisw]

Are you familiar with the rights students have for special education if it is determined necessary under the terms of their IEPs? (individual education plans) Do you know anything about Title VI-B?

I'm not too familiar other than that way more children are in special ed. plans than 10,20 years ago. Some need them and many more are gaming the system..... Your educated guess would be the same as mine. Her father, the judge, should have known (didn't care?) there would be accusations of inappropriate influence by him and for all I know it's true. Could also be true he didn't have to say a thing, just knew these hack cronies from way back.