WEEKEND MEMOS

'Weekend memos' give our editorial writers a chance to express their own opinions, comment on topics they have been writing about, or take a lighter approach. The opinions in 'Memos' do not always follow the Enquirer's editorial positions.

Colerain and Northwest high schools will join the growing ranks of schools without valedictorians next year. Other schools should rush to join them.

The valedictorian title has become a source of frustration, poor choices and even legal battles, all for an honor that only measures one aspect of academic life.

Winning it can mean scholarship opportunities, and a "No. 1" rank to put on a college admission application. But the downside of the honor is starting to outweigh the good.

The problem isn't merely tough competition. It's that parents and students put way too much importance on grades, turning the competition into something unhealthy.

Courts in four states, including one in Germantown, Ohio, have heard complaints from students who felt they had a claim to their schools' award. And even when the competition is friendly, students are forced to take every single advanced class possible to boost weighted GPAs, limiting time to pursue other activities.

A perfect GPA is an amazing accomplishment. But high grades are becoming more common, and as they do, they become less notable. In 2002, a record 45 percent of college-bound high-school graduates finished with an "A" average, according to researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles. That figure was 18 percent in 1968.

I remember the advanced classes I took in high school. We didn't talk about grades much. Thanks to grade inflation, we all pretty much got A's.

So when we competed, we fought about other things. We argued over who was the best musician, the best athlete or the most creative. Graduation titles - if they exist at all - should do the same.

No one's suggesting that we abandon letter grades. Clearly, anyone who gets straight A's for an entire high school career should be lauded. But more schools should adopt the new plan of Colerain and Northwest, who will instead honor summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude graduates.

It won't - nor should it - eliminate competition. But it will stop the practice of trying to separate the best from the very, very good on the basis of one very limited statistic.

Ben Fischer