Sharing the spotlight
A local story's been featured on FoxNews, about a New Jersey teen who's planning to sue her school district for the right to be the only valedictorian at her school. Blair Hornstine is obviously a very smart young woman, as evidence by near-perfect SATs and a near-perfect GPA - the highest GPA in her school, in fact. So why is she being asked to share the valedictorian spot with two other students?
Because of an immune deficiency, Hornstine is classified as a disabled student and has taken a class load that doesn't include physical education and involves her spending part of her school day studying at home.
The two other Moorestown High School seniors with nearly perfect grades could not match her grade-point average, officials said, because classes like gym receive less weight in calculating the GPA.
Hmm. I usually think it's ridiculous when kids sue schools over things like this...but I have to admit, I'm on Blair's side. It's not her fault she couldn't take gym. It's not her fault that the school doesn't count gym as heavily into the GPA. Apparently the school decided at some point that good grades in gym didn't deserve full weight, so it's dishonest for them to try to change the rule now and give the students who did take gym a shot at the valedictorian spot. They can change the rule in the future, if they like...but Blair shouldn't be made to share the spotlight simply because she was unable to partipate in volleyball and calisthenics.