By Anita Kartchner
Lately, rumors have begun swirling around campus that the graduating Class of 2026 will be the first to wear all-blue robes, with no differentiation given to valedictorians, students who have achieved a GPA of 4.0 or above. While these rumors have not been explicitly confirmed by our school administration, the idea raises the question of whether or not the notion of explicitly recognizing students for their academic achievements is discriminatory to others. The short answer, in my opinion, is no. Students who have put in the time and effort necessary in order to maintain a high GPA should be recognized for that. Many of the classes required to maintain a 4.0+ GPA require heavy studying, standardized testing, and an abundance of coursework compared to their non-weighted counterparts. AP Biology, for example, has homework packets due every class, multiple labs, and on top of that, students must study for the AP test. AP Language and Composition has weekly timed essays (even over spring break!), vocabulary quizzes, annotations, and reading assignments due weekly. Students who have pushed themselves by taking these classes should be recognized for their efforts and the sacrifices they may have made. Some say that due to extenuating circumstances, students may not have been able to take the classes needed or give the effort needed to achieve a decent grade. This is a baseless argument. If the student can’t take a class due to their schedule, almost all classes offered here are also offered online at UC Scout or Saddleback, where the courses are weighted. When Rosa Kim, a current senior at Dana, discovered that she wouldn’t be able to take the math class she wanted to be in by senior year, she enrolled in a summer Saddleback class in order to get ahead. Today, she’s currently in her desired math class, AP Calculus BC, and is extremely grateful that she made the decision to sacrifice her summer and take that class. This argument also disregards the students who did have personal conflicts or issues and still managed to push themselves above and beyond to get a 4.0+ GPA. Speaking of a 4.0, numbers don’t lie—a study from UMiami shows that a one-point increase in high school GPA raises annual earnings in adulthood by around 12 percent for men and 14 percent for women. A study conducted by Stanford graduate Mike Priener, using data from the state of Washington, showed that high GPA students make between 5% and 16% more than their lower GPA peers, and the ratio increases as the student proceeds through college and peaks at attaining a graduate degree. If our school wants us to succeed in life, and good behavior increases with rewards, why not reward us for our good behavior? If students don’t feel like they’re being recognized for their efforts, they’ll stop putting the effort in, period. We should encourage hard work and perseverance in our students, not take away their rewards out of fear of “discrimination.”