Research

 

The following graphic is a chart derived from The North Carolina Central University School of Law. Regardless of the background, this chart clearly shows that the top 10% are a small minority of the entire Class of 2013. Since class ranking systems only benefit the top tier students and harm any students below that due to the negative implications received from universities seeing their admissions, the class rank will harm the vast majority of students. Therefore, there is more harm than help being done, so it should be abolished.

Research

http://www.lionnewspaper.com/opinions/2011/11/14/counterpoint-class-rank-inaccurate-measurement-of-success/

Arti Patel of Lyons Township High School provides a counterargument from another editorial of the same school newspaper. In his editorial, Patel states that class rank allows students to be wary of their academic choices as the choices they make "may affect their academic records for the rest of their high school career" since high schools operate on a cumulative system. However, Patel argues that class rank should not carry as much weight as it should, as the cumulative aspect can only gauge a person throughout all four years. Patel states that a transcript and the grades that follow with it provide a more accurate evaluation of a student, as it provides the rigor of courses and the specific faults of a student. In addition, class rank separates a class, as the top tier students only see a small portion of students in the class due to the courses they have picked. Patel qualifies his previous statement, stating that a school needs a hierarchy in which students strive to be the best based on their academic needs. In the need, motivation keeps class rank implemented, but Patel lists other ways of motivation.

Research

http://www.eastside-online.org/opinions/class-rank/

 Karly Bader of Cherry Hill High School East states that class rank is "essentially a mathematical summary of a student’s academic record as compared to the mathematical summary of the other students in his or her class", giving class rank a stoic, inhuman quality. Bader voices the injustice of class rank in an elite high school, stating that intelligent students would flourish in other schools but are rank lower than necessary due to the harsh competition. Therefore, those students do not have equal opportunity to be admitted to certain universities due to their lower class rank. In addition, Bader advocates, "this school would essentially have to create two ranking systems—one based on academics and the other based on extracurriculars" due to a large demographic of students choosing to excel in arts or sports rather than traditionally academics. School admissions would take a more holistic approach towards ranking students, as they are excelling in a variety of parameters. Baders calls universities to consider that "no student can be represented by a single number since student dynamics extend beyond the classroom onto the field and stage". Universities should stop doing what's convenient for them and actually start looking at students holistically.

Research

http://www.lionnewspaper.com/opinions/2011/11/14/point-class-rank-necessary-for-success/

 Maggie O'Brien of Lyons Township High School states that class rank drives "competition, where the prize is college admission and potential scholarships" amongst the student body. Students are naturally competitive and curious towards the success, so class rank allows that curiosity to be "anonymous" where students will push themselves into performing better, and "Higher grades will thus be common among students". High schools will take pride in their high rank, and the ones who receive a lower rank will not fret either because it remains "anonymous".
However, O'Brien does not take into account of how the student who receives a lower rank will feel about themselves, making her argument less credible. Although the college admission process will be more efficient and "less stressful", colleges should view students more holistically. In addition, class rank offers a gauge of a student's admission, but that is not necessarily a good thing, as students will be discouraged from performing well and give up.

Research

http://www.njsba.org/sb_notes/20110524/surveyresults.html

The New Jersey School Boards Association posted a series of surveys that they conducted regarding public opinion on class rank. In one survey, the people who favor not including class rank in transcripts to the people who did was 42.4% to 40.7%, indicating that more people favored opting out of class rank but only by a slight number. In fact, the results appeared almost equal on both sides when factored in statistical accuracy. Comments indicate that "for districts that have a great number of high achievers, class rank may be a detriment to some pupils who are outstanding yet not quite at the very highest level", so larger schools may have less of a benefit from class rank as it hurts near top-performing students. On the other hand, small schools flourish from class rank as it provides the brightest minds to have even stronger applications.
In another survey, the NJSBA revealed that "Only 26.8 percent agreed that class rank gives a clear picture of a student’s academic achievements". Therefore, a large majority of citizens came to the consensus that class rank is ineffective in painting a picture of how strong a student is academically, therefore, colleges should not view it in the college applications. 

Research

Orthodoxy

Research

http://www.memo.mersd.org/2012/01/guidance-should-calculate-class-rank-to-help-high-achieving-students

Fiona Davis praising high school students with high class rank, as it is a "difficult and praiseworthy feat". Therefore, the top students should be given rewards for their hard work and excellent academic endeavors by receiving benefits such as a stronger application for university admissions. Davis argues that without class rank, top students will lose their advantage in the admissions process, which is unfair to them because they put in hard work to produce those results. Even though proponents of elimination argue that the increased competition hurt students, the elimination of class rank will even everyone out by "leveling the playing field by not calculating class rank puts all students at the same level in the eyes of colleges". That prevents top students from differentiation from the other lower students in the class, hurting their application strength.