texaglurkerguy said:

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Cromagnum said:

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TAG7676 said:

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A Greek female, a white dude, and seven Asians. China is so going to own us within a few generations.

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Being book smart isn't even half the battle. If you have zero social skills because all you did your entire life was study, nobody is going to promote you on intelligence alone.

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Valedictorian types at competitive high schools like Bellaire tend to also be very involved in extracurriculars, clubs, the community, etc. The stereotype of the book smart kid with good grades and no social skills tends to be wrong more often than not, in my experience.

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Just for fun, #1 at my high school was in band until it interfered with studying 24/7. Has since been promoted a few times, apparently doing well at the Central Intelligence Agency.

High school GPA and frankly college GPA mean nothing to me now. I've been burned by engineer interns with nearly 4.0 GPAs so I no longer even care what their grades are anymore. It's not really all that hard to make good grades anyway.

Anyone who concentrates on grades to the detriment of everything else is useless to me. If you cannot think on your own, figure out solutions on your own, and cannot talk to people or communicate through written words then you may as well leave the profession of engineering because you're going to be terrible at your job.

I remember the valedictorian at my dauggters graduation, gave her speech about gaming this system to become valedictorian. It was a cool moment....lol..

TAG7676 said:

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A Greek female, a white dude, and seven Asians. China is so going to own us within a few generations.

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The funny thing about grade performance in school and valedictorians is that it's measures who's going to be the best worker, not the best leader/smartest /most successful person.

And yes, Asians do tend to be the best at being robot workers for their masters. Traditionally Americans are better at being promoting individualism and becoming entrepreneurs, which does not translate into near perfect grade point averages.

Kozmozag said:

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I remember the valedictorian at my dauggters graduation, gave her speech about gaming this system to become valedictorian. It was a cool moment....lol..

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That's pretty much it. I would also bet that most valedictorians and much of your top ten percent cheated much of their way through school. I don't mean they cheated to pass but they definitely cheated to get into the top ten.

TChaney said:

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Not in Bellaire

Cromagnum said:

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TAG7676 said:

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A Greek female, a white dude, and seven Asians. China is so going to own us within a few generations.

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Being book smart isn't even half the battle. If you have zero social skills because all you did your entire life was study, nobody is going to promote you on intelligence alone.

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You would be a good fit for the Harvard admissions committee.

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Kozmozag said:

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I remember the valedictorian at my dauggters graduation, gave her speech about gaming this system to become valedictorian. It was a cool moment....lol..

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That's pretty much it. I would also bet that most valedictorians and much of your top ten percent cheated much of their way through school. I don't mean they cheated to pass but they definitely cheated to get into the top ten.

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I'm guessing that you did not graduate in the Top 10 of your high school.

supradave94 said:

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Shouldn't there be some sort of Thunderdome type battle to pick a winner?

'Nine geeks enter....'

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Quote:

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The students, Alkiviades Boukas, Daniel Chen, Evie T. Kao, Angela Ling, Miles Mackenzie, Wenson Tsiah-Hao Tang, Christopher Zhou and twin sisters Annie and Shirley Zhu all have a perfect 5.0 GPA.

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way to go kids, and great job to those moms and DADS.

Cromagnum said:

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TAG7676 said:

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A Greek female, a white dude, and seven Asians. China is so going to own us within a few generations.

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Being book smart isn't even half the battle. If you have zero social skills because all you did your entire life was study, nobody is going to promote you on intelligence alone.

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They will be promoted for their hard work and long hours and ability to focus which they cultivated doing long hours of study for academics.

TChaney said:

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Different area. That's in Sharpstown. Street signs in the City of Bellaire are Red.

Keegan99 said:

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Yes, and every sprinter in the Olympic 100m finals has trained with that singular focus as well.

They don't all get gold medals.

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That's a silly comparison. Don't see tie's in the 100m dash either. Based on the scoring system currently in use, these kids all tied.

Dan Scott said:

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https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/04/12/bellaire-high-school-has-record-breaking-9-valedictorians/

9 students have 5.0 GPA. Am I racist for knowing the race of the majority of students before clicking on the article? Not a lot of diversity.

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Guess which one of those is going to face the most resistance from Ivy League admissions departments? If you guessed the one white guy out of 9 valedictorians, you guessed right. Of course if he became a well known marxist crusader like Hogg, he would dramatically improve his odds.

ironmanag said:

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Just FYI A&M's diversity council just sent out recommendations to colleges to lower or cancel admission standards especially those that involve racist math.

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What in the fresh hell is this?

Ole Army 72 said:

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Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Kozmozag said:

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I remember the valedictorian at my dauggters graduation, gave her speech about gaming this system to become valedictorian. It was a cool moment....lol..

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That's pretty much it. I would also bet that most valedictorians and much of your top ten percent cheated much of their way through school. I don't mean they cheated to pass but they definitely cheated to get into the top ten.

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I'm guessing that you did not graduate in the Top 10 of your high school.

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Well, my experience as a teacher in a very competitive school might skew my view on the subject.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Keegan99 said:

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Yes, and every sprinter in the Olympic 100m finals has trained with that singular focus as well.

They don't all get gold medals.

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That's a silly comparison. Don't see tie's in the 100m dash either. Based on the scoring system currently in use, these kids all tied.

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Then develop a scoring system where there are no ties.

Valedictorian is for #1. Salutatorian is for #2.

If the scoring system allows for multiple perfect scores and fails to identify a unique #1 and #2, then it is deficient.

Now let's grade their "street smarts".

TChaney said:

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This is in Sharpstown

I would rather see their Tiger moms battle for the title. UFC could make millions on that bloody PPV.

Keegan99 said:

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Cheapens the title.

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Nonadictorian

TChaney said:

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I actually think that's kind of cool they do that with street signs in that area - Houston's Chinatown.

As an aside "Chinatown" seems like the kind of name that will be soon frowned upon if not already. There are all kinds of Asian businesses in the area, not just Chinese. I guess that would apply to street signs too - but being more inclusive there seems problematic.

https://365thingsinhouston.com/2018/05/08/5-must-do-things-in-chinatown-houston-tx/

I graduated from Bellaire 29 years ago, finished with a 3.9945 GPA and was ranked #132 in my class. The more things change ...

All Chinese, no Koreans or Vietnamese. Racist AF.

Cromagnum said:

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TAG7676 said:

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A Greek female, a white dude, and seven Asians. China is so going to own us within a few generations.

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Being book smart isn't even half the battle. If you have zero social skills because all you did your entire life was study, nobody is going to promote you on intelligence alone.

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This reminds me of Indian parents in Coppell. Studying, private tutors, long hours all to win a spelling bee. Absolutely zero real world practicality or indication of intelligence.

But hey, it gives the parents something to brag about next time they're at India 101 eating dinner.

It's an interesting phenomenon. You're spot on at what they do. Their children getting great grades and going to college is a big deal. And those kids are getting those technical degrees where our kids are getting degrees in Art History

Charpie said:

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It's an interesting phenomenon. You're spot on at what they do. Their children getting great grades and going to college is a big deal. And those kids are getting those technical degrees where our kids are getting degrees in Art History

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True. I work with an entire crew in India every day and have spent time over there. Good luck telling mom and dad you want to grow up and be a cricket player. Probably going to get disowned.

Hell, good luck telling mom and dad you want to be an accountant. Such a disappointment.

The problem is cultural, though. American independence is what led to innovation. Bucking the trend, taking chances, etc. This is very unique to western culture. We're not rule followers (Covidiots excluded).

They make fantastic engineers and accountants, not so much entrepreneurs (mostly).

Overall, I love my India staff. Super kind, reliable, good people.

Kozmozag said:

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So basically no valedictorian.

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EOT.

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Kozmozag said:

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I remember the valedictorian at my dauggters graduation, gave her speech about gaming this system to become valedictorian. It was a cool moment....lol..

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That's pretty much it. I would also bet that most valedictorians and much of your top ten percent cheated much of their way through school. I don't mean they cheated to pass but they definitely cheated to get into the top ten.

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So... Who did they cheat off of? The people who finished below them? Because it makes no sense that a valedictorian got better grades by cheating off someone who got lower grades.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Kozmozag said:

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I remember the valedictorian at my dauggters graduation, gave her speech about gaming this system to become valedictorian. It was a cool moment....lol..

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That's pretty much it. I would also bet that most valedictorians and much of your top ten percent cheated much of their way through school. I don't mean they cheated to pass but they definitely cheated to get into the top ten.

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So... Who did they cheat off of? The people who finished below them? Because it makes no sense that a valedictorian got better grades by cheating off someone who got lower grades.

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Uh... one doesn't have to "cheat off of" someone else to cheat.

What do Tiger Moms do if you are only one of 25 salutatorians with a 4.95 GPA?

torrid said:

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What do Tiger Moms do if you are only one of 25 salutatorians with a 4.95 GPA?

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What would Forrest Gump's mom do?

Essentially everyone in the ap program at my high school (maybe 60 of 2k) had over a 4.0. The valedictorian had like a 5.6. I was ap but kinda cruised after scoring high on the act test. We (valedictorian) sat next to each other in freshman geography at TAMU. Funny to think how much more she worked to end up the same as me.

In HS in the late 70s. Before our senior year, the valedictorian had always been selected by grade point average with extra points for taking AP classes. There was a girl in my class, only child, both of her parents were educators. In order to keep her GPA up, she took some classes, like Geometry, Pass/Fail as those would not be calculated into her overall GPA.

The procedure changed our senior year wherein the top 20 of us all showed up on a Saturday to take a test that was compiled by each department head covering a vast array of material. Not taking more AP classes bit her in the butt. The guy i had been dating, received the highest score. (He went on to receive a double major in biology/chemistry from Rice in three years before starting medical school. Wicked smart guy.)

Alas my senior high female classmate went to Georgetown and received a B in a class. Sadly, she committed suicide over it. Real tragedy that she felt such pressure from her parents, she felt she had let them down, again.

So sad.

Keegan99 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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Keegan99 said:

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Yes, and every sprinter in the Olympic 100m finals has trained with that singular focus as well.

They don't all get gold medals.

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That's a silly comparison. Don't see tie's in the 100m dash either. Based on the scoring system currently in use, these kids all tied.

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Then develop a scoring system where there are no ties.

Valedictorian is for #1. Salutatorian is for #2.

If the scoring system allows for multiple perfect scores and fails to identify a unique #1 and #2, then it is deficient.

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No, it is merely subject to math and logic. The comparison to sprinters is fallacious because sprinting has no perfect time, whereas grading does have a perfect score.

In sprinting, the limit of the absolute perfect time approaches 0, but it cannot physically be 0. Therefore, it is always infinitely divisible and there is no bound on how close you can get to perfect. With the proper equipment, you could continue to calculate sprints to infinitesimally small units of time until you determine a winner.

In academic grading, you can get a perfect score. It is theoretically possible to score 100/100 on every assignment, so one can reach the limit of a perfect score, not merely approach it. If one can do it, many can do it.

Grading is also measured in discrete units or points, whereas sprinting is measured in ever divisible seconds. Even if two students who tie for valedictorian didn't get perfect scores, they can still easily tie because there is a finite number of scores they can get on assignments and many assignments are based on x right answers/y questions. Even subjective assignments are generally based on point based rubrics, and no teacher is going to hand out an assignment graded to 5 decimals.


That said, the Olympics does measure time to a finite number of decimals, effectively making events measured in discrete units, and sprinters, swimmers, speed skaters, etc can tie. Perfect example is the 2016 Olympics. Swimming saw three events with ties for gold, silver, and bronze. Those are timed events, just like sprinting.