A new semester has begun at Etowah High School, which calls for an update in one of the school’s most competitive aspects: class rank. Students are putting too much pressure on themselves to guarantee a superior ranking, causing unnecessary stress and promoting unhealthy competition between peers.
“I believe that class rank is rewarding to those who have performed well in their classes yet can be belittling towards those who may have not done as well,” Luke Lindberg, senior, said.
The class ranking system measures a student’s weighted Numeric Grade Average (NGA) on a 100 point scale and compares it to other students’ NGA in their grade, ordering them from the highest average to the lowest. Rather than focusing on learning and growing in academics, students are more occupied with competing against their fellow classmates to receive a higher ranking. Even though students credit this competition with the desire to get into a good college, most simply feel the need to be the best or smartest in their class. While having a high class rank may feel nice, this constant unhealthy competition between classmates often divides them rather than unites them. Additionally, rivalry between peers over their position can cause unwanted stress and an overall unhappy learning environment.
“The class rank system in high schools fosters unhealthy competition more than it encourages high achievement,” Ella Unal, The State Journal- Register’s voice intern, said.
Students are already burdened with a heavy workload from school, extracurriculars, and maybe even from their jobs. When the pressure from attaining a high class rank is added on, tensions grow, causing pupils to become overwhelmed quickly. When these hard-working individuals are not satisfied with their ranking, their anxiety only increases, possibly sending them to spiral into feelings of self-doubt. As a response to this, they push themselves harder, eventually leading to a burnout. Clearly, the class rank is harming students in more ways than it is doing them good.
“Students should not be basing their ability on numbers because the whole nature of numbers is infinite, and humans are not,” Halen Howell, sophomore, said.
Some high schoolers at Etowah believe that the only way to stop class rank from causing stress is to eliminate the system entirely. This is not just a hypothetical scenario; many high schools have already adapted this to relieve students of needless worry. If the class ranking system is discarded, students will obsess less over their NGA, and toxic competition between classmates will decrease significantly.
“I believe that the class rank is unnecessary. I think it causes students to worry, stress, and compare themselves to other people for no reason,” Eva Schwartz, freshman, said.
As Etowah students receive their class rank alongside their transcript, harmful competition starts to rise once again. Each person attending Etowah can either worry about their ranking or let it go; the only thing left to do is wait and see which mindset one will follow this semester.
