Class rank … is … officially … dead. (Insert cheering and whooping and whatever you people do to celebrate). Yup, the class of 2021, and all future cohorts, will officially be class rank-free. I, as a graduating senior (class of 2020), am a member of the last class to experience this ordeal. Indeed, it’s been a ride, if that isn’t too mild of a noun. Rather, it’s been like a one-way trip on a rocket-powered roller coaster hurtling across the track at speeds not suitable for humans, without the protection of a functional seatbelt or even your mommy. And everybody pukes on this ride. Everybody.
Class rank, above all, was anxiety-inducing. Days spent sitting in class, unable to concentrate, as you think about the ten pages of homework you’re going to get tonight; afternoons spent refusing to give your friends homework help, for fear that their success means your failure; late nights spent making outlines of College Board-approved textbooks that you aren’t even interested in; weekend hangouts with your friends devolving into discussions of next year’s course selection and gossip about who’s taking how many APs. As Anirhudda Nrushima, valedictorian of the class of 2017 and our former webmaster said, “It is the definition of a zero sum game”.
And you’d think that at the end of this ride, there would be some sweet relief. Nope. Inevitably, there are students who are disappointed in their ranks, with this discontent pervading the Commons on Friday the 13th, the day after ranks were announced (coincidence? I think not).
Then again, it’s just a number, right? Surely you have more value beyond that bold-faced integer at the bottom of your graduation requirements WITS page? Indeed, you do. Unfortunately, there was a culture at East for the past Lord-knows-how-many years that tied one’s sense of self-worth to this one arbitrary metric.
Yet, there are things in life beyond class rank. As I noted in my official “Tips for Freshmen”, high school is about finding your “thing” and dedicating yourself to it. Although that article was targeted for freshmen, the advice applies just as much, if not more, to seniors. Instead of moping about the mere difference of decimal points that separated you and the person above you, celebrate all the things you learned and created over your high school experience (tie-dye clothing in Chemistry, anybody?). Celebrate the friends you made. Celebrate the fun times you had, from Homecoming to JDD to the football games. You have your whole life ahead of you, and ultimately, class rank is just one three-digit number in life’s infinite sequence of numbers. Now is the time to look ahead.
And, to the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors that are reading this: be happy that you don’t have class rank. You have the freedom to pursue what you want without worrying about how it’ll affect your number. So do it. Learn how to write a jazz tune. Learn how to shoot a one-legged fadeaway three-pointer. Learn how to code a website. Learn how to make scented candles. Learn how to knit striped sweaters. Learn how to cook ramen noodles. And most of all, learn how to be happy.
Indeed, class rank may have motivated students to challenge themselves, but in the end, it caused much undue anxiety and detracted focus from the important things. I think I speak for most of us when I say that the death of class rank, at least at East High School, is for the betterment of our school community.
It will not be missed.
