First in Her Class: The valedictorian sued, and the town turned on her

The Weekly Standard ^ | 07/14/03 | Jonathan V. Last

[Arkinsaw]

Why not make everybody valedictorian, that way everyone has their self-esteem intact.

[Dan from Michigan]

Great..ambulance chasers..

[SolidSupplySide]

I think the point of this article is that someone manipulated disability laws/regulations in order to gain an advantage. This girl is not disabled.

The fact that her father is a sleazy lawyer doesn't help matters.

[JLS]

Well after one of the local high schools had 17 co-valadictorians, they decided meer GPA was not enough and they would use class average to break the tie in the future.

[friendly]

Hornstine is a complete fraud, a manipulative deceitful narcissistic charlatan.... a typical lawyer vermin.

[xm177e2]

It's obvious to anyone with a brain who isn't a complete politically correct lobotomy patient that some rich people are abusing the system by claiming their kids have "learning disabilities" and then get extra time to take tests (such as the SATs). The upswelling of hatred for this girl is a bit frightening, but at the same time it's good to see some people still care about fairness and honesty. This girl is obviously a liar, cheater, and thief, and if Harvard won't rescind her acceptance, then Harvard deserves her and her kind.

[xm177e2]

Hornstine is a complete fraud, a manipulative deceitful narcissistic charlatan.... a typical lawyer vermin.

It's a shame, really, that 90% of the lawyers give the other 10% such a bad name. Hey, Atticus Finch was a lawyer, right?

[Feiny]

Her name is Blair & she plagerized? Maybe the NY Times will hire her....

[palmer]

She'll probably study to be a lawyer then marry a womanizing politician from Arkansas.

[Lijahsbubbe]

Yep yep. Those home programs aren't all they're cracked up to be.

On another note, (and a chance to brag) my daughter and another girl were running neck and neck for valedictorian. My daughter had the girls overnite for her birthday, and I remarked to the competition that "we had ways of taking care of her". After thinking about stories I had read about the cheerleader moms, I quickly added "just kidding, just kidding!

[ALS]

Dan from Michigan (Liberals - "The suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked")

Hey I like your tagline. Here's my video version...

[Jaded]

Her father is a sleazy superior court judge. If she was actually disabled she wouldn't have been able to accomplish all she has. How the heck did they miss that?

[the Real fifi]

creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

[soccermom]

Some people are so slimy!

[friendly]

Atticus Finch was a fictional character. Honest lawyers are fictional characters, like the tooth fairy.

The evil Hornstine clan is the reality of the legal industry.

[truthkeeper]

What a fascinating article. Thanks very much for posting it. Coincidentally, my daughter just graduated from high school and several of our group had a discussion about the depths to which the valedictorian role has descended.

[A CA Guy]

RECALL THE JUDGE for starters.

[Dan from Michigan]

Can't take full credit. I Jayson Blaired it from the radio(which is why I quoted it). I think it was Homer Simpson actually.

[ALS]

Yeah, me too. I stole the idea of libs sucking from the fact that they always have/will :)