Graduating “with distinction” isn’t what you think
Photo: Miriam Brown
A student poses in a cap and gown. SIS alone determined graduation with distinction this year.
This year, valedictorian and incoming Harvard freshman Sope Adeleye will be graduating from St. George’s without distinction. The reason? Her SIS received a grade of “pass” rather than “pass with distinction.”
St. George’s is perhaps the only school in the region to base the status of graduation with distinction entirely upon a single grade. This needs to change.
When I was younger, I always assumed that those wearing the ropes around their shoulders during the graduation ceremony earned that right by making a certain overall GPA, something similar to the St. George’s Scholar List which I strived to be on as a child.
However, the truth is that students receive distinction based on their SIS, a student-driven, year-long senior project, and it has no correlation to the overall GPA.
Adeleye voiced that she was frustrated by the importance that one project had in consideration for distinction.
“What made me upset about it is the idea that I’ve worked so hard for four years, and I’ve really put myself into the school and been really involved,” Adeleye said. “Just because I didn’t do well on one project doesn’t mean that I don’t merit graduation with distinction.”
Director of College Guidance Mr. Timothy Gibson cautions against valuing the label of distinction too highly.
“It takes nothing away from a student’s accomplishments and efforts in the classroom at all,” Mr. Gibson said. “When all is said and done, our students who do well academically graduate with wonderful college options and go on to do great things, regardless of if they were distinctive through the SIS project or not.”
Though Mr. Gibson raises a fair point, the current rules for distinction ignore the sleepless nights, early mornings, missed social events and other sacrifices academically-minded students have made over the course of their high school career.
As previously stated, St. George’s is perhaps the only school in the area that bases distinction on one project rather than GPA. Briarcrest Christian School requires students to maintain a seven-semester GPA of 3.8 and have five credits in honors or advanced placement (AP) courses in order to earn distinction. Similarly, students at Houston High School must graduate from the Houston Honors Academy with a minimum B average and complete one outside-of-school requirement to graduate with honors.
This approach rewards students for work completed over the course of four years, rather than work completed during one, and promotes consistent dedication to academics.
Completing SIS with distinction is a major accomplishment, but it shouldn’t be the only path to distinction. Distinction should be based on either a student’s past academic record at St. George’s or on a student’s SIS. If both are included as ways to graduate distinctively, then more students can be rewarded for individual excellence.
Upper School Director Mr. Tom Morris said that he is open to changing the distinction requirements in the future.
“We’re at a transition point looking forward about exactly what distinction should be based on,” Mr. Morris said. “It has worked well for the past 10 years, but we’re not the same school we were 10 years ago, so maybe we need to look at different criteria.”
I hope other administrators will join him in reconsidering what merits distinctions, as I think we can all agree that students like Adeleye deserve it.
