BY SAM MAILEY
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Society places a heavy emphasis on academics, but an individual student’s priority on academics varies from household to household. A student’s approach in the classroom usually corresponds to their academic dedication. In one case, a student might turn in homework only when they feel like it, whereas another might check Homelink twenty minutes after they finish a test.

For the latter student, class rank might be a frequently monitored and carefully protected statistic. The value in being a top-tier scholar is perfectly understandable, and class rank is a powerful measurement to validate certain students’ commitment – but I don’t believe that alone should be enough reason to stop the Roseville Joint Union High School District from following their considerations and eliminate the immediate availability of class rank.

With the emphasis on academics intensifying some students’ approach to education, class rank can make the race for valedictorian and salutatorian titles a competition among students. But while the competition class rank hosts might be a motivator for top students to build on their current success, this desire shouldn’t be the only factor driving their achievement.

A friendly competition is fine, as long as it remains just that and students don’t let it climb atop their list of priorities that already consists of a rigorous schedule. And often it does linger in the back of competitive students’ minds as not just a friendly competition, but a marker of their entire intellectual worth. This is the point at which class rank needs to be displayed or disclosed at the student’s discretion.

Weighted GPA is the root of the stress over class rank, since it’s the only way to climb the academic dogfight. Eliminating class rank will not eliminate their desire for straight A’s and a high GPA, but it will eliminate their ability to compare their performance to others’ as frequently.

Like I said earlier, though, a competition for the top five students of a 500-student class shouldn’t be enough to keep class rank such an easily accessed statistic, not only because it can easily become more than just a competition, but because for each of those five at the top, there are a hundred students below who see their grades and efforts become a digital symbol of inferiority when they look at class rank. Academic emphasis within a household doesn’t always equate to strong performance, and in those instances class rank is merely a comparative, discouraging statistic to present.

While NACAC survey data reports only 31% of colleges considered class rank of “considerable importance,” counselors should likely keep rank accessible in closed, unofficial-if-seal-is-broken envelopes, for college affairs.

College admissions are based on more than class rank, so it’s especially unnecessary for students to get emotionally and mentally and sometimes physically wrapped up in the competition for four years.

For the sake of students who slave over earning the lowest number they can on their class rank, and for students who underwhelm expectations set before them, remove easy access to class rank. With this, rank won’t be looming over the top students’ stresses nor discouraging “underperforming” students.