Everyone being number one sounds kind of silly doesn't it? It is in direct conflict with the meaning of the word one, not to mention the distinction of being the best, but that is exactly what is happening at high school graduations across the nation. The trend is to name multiple valedictorians and salutatorians instead of choosing only one of each. The reasoning behind this lack of selection are as multiple as the selections themselves but include: it makes it easier for the students to get into better colleges (how so if they hand out the title so freely?) and they all worked hard so they all deserve the honor. To me it sounds like a cop out on the part of the ones doing the choosing so they don't have to look as closely at the accomplishments of their charges, not to mention that this isn't kid's soccer or little league where everyone wins every game, these are adults (for the most part) that are entering real life where the competition is going to get stiffer the further they go up the ladder, so there is a certain need to become accustom to not always being number one. At least they don't have them all giving speeches which could very well take days to complete the ceremony when at times there are up to 30 valedictorians per class. It seems to me the one time honor doesn't mean as much now, then again maybe I'm just old and crabby.
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