To be number one is to be publicly labeled a winner in the system that counts – a system of advancement through personal merit and effort in rugged competition. Labels of success – Rhodes scholar, Nobel laureate, Heisman Trophy winner – follow a person through life and define him or her to the public. One […]
Author : Karen Arnold
Just as the stereotypes of the one-sided academic grind or the obsessed genius are myths for high school valedictorians, also false is the conception of academic achievers as troubled individuals effective only in school. – Karen Arnold
In their early thirties, the most career-invested women and men in the Illinois Valedictorian Project are those who have found deep personal meaning in vocations. Those qualities and conditions that keep students centered on work are different than those that made them high school valedictorian. – Karen Arnold
Higher education, in contrast, did not always keep its promise to develop the talents of even its best students. Left with classroom achievement alone, many students never found a negotiable path to a clearly envisioned career corresponding to their deepest interests and values. – Karen Arnold
Women—and only women—lowered their intellectual self-esteem between high school graduation and sophomore year of college. – Karen Arnold
From kindergarten to the valedictory address, schools grade, rank, and label their best performers. The top high school student wins the first major life contest, a competition in which most members of society participate. Following high school, victors enter subsequent contests at an advantage. The race is never restarted. – Karen Arnold
Outstanding students of color arrived on campus without the web of white middle-class family and school structures that provided Anglo students with practical knowledge in such areas as college choice strategies and career planning. – Karen Arnold
Female valedictorians marry a little later and participate somewhat more heavily in paid work than women in their age group nationally. – Karen Arnold
Valedictorians were highly motivated to excel academically because of early family and school experiences. – Karen Arnold
The record is clear; nothing succeeds like success and there is no predictor of academic success better than a history of academic success. – Karen Arnold