Why not just make everyone a valedictorian? Why limit the school to just eight?

Brian Solomon writes at Dartblog.

Eight Valedictorians in the Class of 2016

Last month, we asked how many top honors the College would award for the Class of 2016. What was once a singular achievement for two or maybe three of the very best and brightest students has become a running joke as grade inflation multiplies the number of 4.00 and 3.99 GPAs.

Yesterday we found out: Dartmouth crowned eight valedictorians — a new record — along with seven salutatorians. No doubt all are fabulous students and people, with impeccable resumes, and my goal is not to diminish their accomplishment. But it’s hard to look at recent history and not think that something’s wrong:

Students have not improved to this extent in less than a decade; SAT scores are flat:

Rather, the increase in honors is the inevitable result of the slow but steady upward creep of grades. After all, the only difference between the valedictorians and salutatorians is a single A- (it’s always fun to find which prof gave it). Likely another large group of ’16’s received only two A-‘s or one B+ for a 3.98 GPA. While this average remains a terrific feat, the likelihood of tripping up once has gone down, as medians grades inch ever higher.

In 2013 I wrote: “How long before Dartmouth has eight valedictorians? Ten? Fifteen? I’d like to see the College’s PR team try to ignore that.” And yet they have. As recently as 2010, the Dartmouth Now press release heralded four valedictorians as a stunning achievement. We now have twice as many, and the College purposely avoids any mention of a new record.

To avoid further embarrassment, administrators must be mulling the idea of changing the manner in which the valedictorian and salutatorian honors are awarded. The College has always used a straight GPA-based system, but many schools (including Princeton and Columbia) have a committee that takes other factors into account.