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| Congratulations Yuan and to the Graduates of 2014! |
Actually, he was top 3 of the class in terms of the academic grade average. But as the school principal discussed in a meeting with the parents of the top 10 honor students how they came up with the ranking of the honor students following the DepEd guidelines, I saw how he was eventually ranked to top 5.
Academic ranking was 70% and extra-curricular points ranking was 30%. My son was rank 3rd in academics and 8th in extra-curricular so he ended up in 5th. You can find how the ranking is exactly computed in the slide presentation below.
Update: Read the Changes in the Ranking of Honor Students According to DepEd (2017)
I appreciate how the school exercised transparency and explained the ranking of the students. I also believe that they (teachers) tried to be as objective as they could in the computation.
But to be honest, I don’t fully agree with the point system of the extra-curricular activities of the students as well as the computation of the ranking. For example, my son was part of the school’s basketball varsity team as well as the digiMath team . Those two extra-curricular activities demanded a lot of time (for practice and review) from my son but then he only received so little points for that. Whereas joining the Red Cross seminar for only 2 days , gave double or triple the points to those who participated. I don’t think it’s a totally fair way of evaluating how active a student is in terms of extra-curricular activities.
Regarding the computation of the ranking, I wish that they could have computed the 70% academic grade + 30% extra-curricular grade of the individual student prior to ranking. Though the result may end up the same, what it suggests is different. It shows the overall performance of the student versus the other students.
If nothing changes, my advice then to pupils who are aiming for high rankings is to join the Boy/Girl Scout, Red Cross, try to get elected as class President (awarded 2 points) and strive to be the President of the Supreme Pupil Government or SPG (awarded 8 points). Of course, join clubs and contests (about 2 points if you win 1st prize alone not as a team) as well. Even if you’re not top 1, maybe top 2 or 3, if you know how to play it, you can still get to that elusive spot.
Students and parents need to know this honor pupil ranking system because it may lead to disappointment when the students are ranked at the end of the school year. I am speaking from personal experience. My son is a transferee from a school abroad and we, as parents, did not really know the exact pointing system of the extra-curricular activities. And so …
Am I sour graping? Perhaps. I will not be honest if I said that everything was okay, but I fully respect the decision. DepEd surely has its reasons why the system is as it is and I only see things from my perspective which may be limited in scope.
I congratulate all the honor pupils who did their best. They deserve the recognition.
I want to say that I’m proud of what my son accomplished. Congratulations, Yuan! I hope and pray that you will learn more in secondary school and be the best that you can be and as God wants you to be.
Congratulations, as well, to my 2 daughters. Kristel was top 3 and best in deportment while Janel was top 10 of their respective grade levels. Keep it up, girls!
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| Congratulations Girls! Honor Pupils Kristel and Janel |
22 Comments
I remember when I was in high school, extra curricular activities are very important as well.
I knew that method of ranking ever since I was in school myself. Even though I excelled academically and joined multiple extracurricular activities, I just couldn’t top the people ranking before me. They were into sports and I wasn’t, so talo ako! Hehe!
Also, there are times, that those who usually joined extracurricular activities, like quiz bees, are the same faces from grade 1 to grade 6. What about the others? They don’t give chances to other individuals to participate in such extracurricular activities.
I know someone who ranked 2nd academically but when the extracurricular activities was included in the points, she landed 7th in over-all ranking.
Anyway, I know how it feels because once upon a time I have gone through what your son went. I got the second highest GPA when we graduate in HS but I ended up not even on the top 5. That’s because I don’t participate in extra curricular activities. It is just that I don’t like but I was too shy that time and also teachers picked who ever they want to participate in contests, There’s no eliminations what so ever. Anyway, that was past and what is important is what I have become now.
I am so sure there’s a lot in store for your son. Good luck and congratulations
Each person is really unique and I guess what’s more important is to excel in what we’re good at and not just measure ourselves against others. You’re good in your own way, Mommaye.
Congratulations to your kids, you must be really proud of them. But oh, congrats to you, too.