A three-tiered Latin honors system, with summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude—similar to college rankings—will soon be used in place of the former distinction, according to the announcement.
“The recognition system will reward our students for genuine academic success based on their academic accomplishments. This will help reduce the overall competitive culture at MHS to allow students to focus on exploring learning opportunities that are of interest to them,” principal of Mason High School (MHS), Bobby Dodd, said in the announcement.
Dodd also said that the change will allow the school to distinguish “students who have achieved outstanding academic success through a multitude of pathways.”
The decision has drawn criticism from Baker Mayfield, the star quarterback from the National Football League.
“You’re telling me competition doesn’t bring out the best in people? If you want something bad enough, work for it,” Mayfield said.
"People are too soft," he added.
According to Cooper, competition is intense for students wanting to get ahead in academic performance at Mason High School: 40 percent of the 2019 class will be graduating with a GPA of 4.0 or higher.
“We want our kids to pursue what they're passionate about," he said. "We don't want them to chase a magic number or this artificial goal here. We want them to pursue what they're interested in."
The school said that the honor title is based on students’ weighted GPA, and that student rankings are not reported to colleges.
“The paradoxical nature of class rank within the culture of MHS does nothing to decrease the competition among students,” Dodd said of the system.
“These past couple of years, we've seen a trend where students are not taking the classes because they want to learn more about a subject, they're taking the classes because of a weighted GPA they can receive," he said.
Mason High School will become one of the latest Ohio high schools to switch to Latin honors system, following schools such as Indian Hill High School and Hilliard Darby High School.
The valedictorian honor is an age-old tradition that has roots in colonial times. The term valedictorian derives from the Latin phrase, “vale dicere,” meaning “to say goodbye.” The valedictorian scholar usually gives a commencement speech at the end of the graduation ceremony.
Ranking from top down based on grade point averages has become less popular in recent years. Up to half of the schools in the country no longer report class ranks, according to the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
"It is really creating a better climate, a better health for our students," Dodd said.