Valedictorian should be chosen by students

By Valerie R. Tabush

One of the largest annual controversies among the senior grade is the valedictorian system. Until just a few years ago, the school chose the graduating valedictorians and salutatorians in a typical and customary way: through measuring GPA. However, two years ago the school switched over to an improved method that involves teachers and students voting.

Any teacher who has taught the senior grade at any point receives a form where they can nominate up to three senior students who they believe best represent the graduating class, similar to the school’s “Portrait of a Graduate,” as explained by Rabbi Beyda. Administrators narrow that group of approximately 50 nominees down to the top eight who had the most nominations. Those students get honored by administration as finalists, and then without any campaigning, seniors are asked to make a quick vote through a form released during a gradewide assembly.

Many students argue that the award should simply be given to those with the highest GPA; however, according to Rabbi Beyda, “the idea of valedictorian is simply to give a parting speech at graduation and represent the grade; it is not about who has the highest average.” The school implemented this system in search for a system that works for the students’ benefit by giving them a voice. Senior Aimee Hidary agrees, explaining that she believes it is important for the seniors to have a say in their representatives. Hidary argues that the voting process is far from a popularity contest, because the seniors “know each candidate on a deeper level than the teachers do, and will therefore choose the candidate who is well-deserving of the award.”

Additionally, senior (and newly elected salutatorian) Jack Abadi believes that by allowing students to have a say, the system “looks beyond GPAs for the outstanding senior who best represents the grade.” Abadi believes that it is important to consider the impact the students have made, their involvement in school activities, their leadership roles, and the overall difference they have made at Flatbush, all of which are taken into consideration by the grade, who ultimately knows the candidates best.

Aside from best knowing the candidates, the student voting process comes with multiple other benefits. Flatbush is a school offering various different AP courses, honors classes, advanced Gemara classes, and accelerated math tracks for students who look to challenge themselves, rather than take the easy way to an A+. Given the difficulty levels of these classes, a student enrolled in many of them may have a slightly lower average than a typical honors student. Without weighted GPAs, the typical honors student taking average classes and with little involvement sometimes a higher GPA. Seniors, on the other hand, are familiar with their classmates’ schedules enough to make an informed vote, taking both academic rigor and extracurricular involvement into consideration.

Valedictorian should not be put to a vote

By: Olivia Shamah

Valedictorian is a reward typically given to the highest-achieving student in a graduating class. It’s an award that people work toward for four years, slaving away for every test, quiz, project, and participation grade … all for it to come down to a vote.

The voting system effectively changed the purpose of valedictorian, from rewarding the highest-achieving student with representing the grade at graduation to electing a potentially less-deserving student to have that honor. Senior Rosie Eida disagrees with the new system, stating, “This system is unfair to the people who worked so hard for all of high school just for it to come down to a vote.”

This system essentially diminishes the honor of valedictorian to a popularity contest, favoring the more charismatic, personable individuals over the ones with the highest academic averages. It gives a voice to those who already have a voice, not the hardworking and intelligent role models who might not have had the opportunity to share their message with their classmates. Not to mention the fact that all four valedictorians and salutatorians elected with this system so far have been male, despite many girls being on the ballot. This perpetuates the phenomenon in which boys typically vote for boys, and girls typically vote for who they think is best fit for the position. Further, this year’s student ballot included an uneven ratio: five boys and only three girls.

In a multi-select poll of the senior grade about the reasons behind their votes, 70% of those polled answered that they voted for their candidate based off reputation, 46% said they voted for a close friend, 59% voted based off of academic achievement, and 41% percent attributed their vote to academic standing. Although about 70% said they voted for their candidate because they believed that that person embodied the Portrait of a Graduate, personal relationships clearly play a role in students’ decision of who to vote for. Additionally, on a scale from 1-10, 83% of seniors rated the person that they voted for as a 6 or more in terms of how close in friendship they were, with 46% stating that they consider the person they voted for a close friend. This indicates a bias that exists when students see their good friends on the ballot.

Determining the criteria for academic honors often involves a debate between strictly numerical achievements and a more holistic view of a student’s character. The administration sought a creative solution to the fact that the valedictorian does not necessarily embody all core values of the Yeshivah. “The administration thought that the valedictorian is a representation of what we call the ‘Portrait of a Graduate,’ who we determined should best represent the Class of 2026,” explained Rabbi Galpert. The school’s concept of a Portrait of a Graduate is a student who is “committed, ethical, responsible, scholarly, and empowered,” all very fine traits for a student representative, but not necessarily fitting the dictionary definition of a valedictorian, which, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “the student usually having the highest rank in a graduating class who delivers the valedictory address at the commencement exercises.”

However, the administration’s view of the word is slightly different, as Rabbi Galpert explained that “the word ‘valedictorian’ does not necessarily mean the highest-achieving student, but the student who gives the valedictory address which is a parting speech. … If you look at other schools and colleges, the valedictorian is the person who gives the parting speech, not the student with the highest GPA.”