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I imagine all of those Valedictorians moving on to Ivy League status are simply gathering the benefits of a childhood designed to make them subservient, unquest

I imagine all of those Valedictorians moving on to Ivy League status are simply gathering the benefits of a childhood designed to make them subservient, unquestioning, and anything but self-determined. Of course they end up vomiting in frat basements. They're dumped into adulthood without an iota of experience of being a human being. How are they supposed to know what to do when no one is telling them exactly what to do with every moment of their day for the first time in their entire lives?

happyscrappy 12y ago
Whatever makes you feel better about yourself, you will believe.
protonfish 12y ago
I am not sure why your comment is getting so much hate. Are there that many valedictorians on HN? I read so much about the dangers of performance metrics in the work place, but aren't grades the most widespread and pernicious of them all? Face it, a 4.0 does not require more than average intelligence, only the ability to quickly and precisely do exactly as you are told.
- bsilvereagle 12y ago
  > only the ability to quickly and precisely do exactly as you are told In my experience, my 4.0 existed because I didn't do what I'm told. If I disagreed with a teacher's answer, I would write in "(e) bsilvereagle's answer" and usually get full credit. Similarly, not once did I write a Bing-Bang-Bongo paper in high school as instructed, yet I got top grades in English because I could independently construct a worthwhile essay. I don't think I ever completed a Chemistry lab as instructed either, I would stop half way through and start tinkering around and could usually come up with a hypothesis/experiment/conclusion that was much better than what the lab set out to do. In short, don't assume every 4.0 you see is going to do exactly as they're told.
  - protonfish 12y ago
    Not sure what school you went to (or even in what country - what the heck is "Bing-Bang-Bongo"?) but you only need one teacher that doesn't like your alleged independent methods to put a fly into your perfect score. You must be very fortunate to somehow have avoided this your entire high school career. Bravo.
seanflyon 12y ago
I went to Cornell and can only think of one person who comes close to fitting this description. Your imagination is far from reality. I may have a substantial selection bias, so perhaps there are people who fit your description, but they are certainly not typical.
cafard 12y ago
I have known (that I can be sure) two high-school valedictorians, one from my own HS class, one much younger. Neither in any way resembled the profile you seem to have in mind. I have no memory of where my HS classmate went, but suspect it was a state school. The younger one got wait-listed for the one Ivy she applied for, and went to a perfectly good school even so.

happyscrappy 12y ago

Whatever makes you feel better about yourself, you will believe.

protonfish 12y ago

I am not sure why your comment is getting so much hate. Are there that many valedictorians on HN? I read so much about the dangers of performance metrics in the work place, but aren't grades the most widespread and pernicious of them all? Face it, a 4.0 does not require more than average intelligence, only the ability to quickly and precisely do exactly as you are told.

bsilvereagle 12y ago
> only the ability to quickly and precisely do exactly as you are told In my experience, my 4.0 existed because I didn't do what I'm told. If I disagreed with a teacher's answer, I would write in "(e) bsilvereagle's answer" and usually get full credit. Similarly, not once did I write a Bing-Bang-Bongo paper in high school as instructed, yet I got top grades in English because I could independently construct a worthwhile essay. I don't think I ever completed a Chemistry lab as instructed either, I would stop half way through and start tinkering around and could usually come up with a hypothesis/experiment/conclusion that was much better than what the lab set out to do. In short, don't assume every 4.0 you see is going to do exactly as they're told.
- protonfish 12y ago
  Not sure what school you went to (or even in what country - what the heck is "Bing-Bang-Bongo"?) but you only need one teacher that doesn't like your alleged independent methods to put a fly into your perfect score. You must be very fortunate to somehow have avoided this your entire high school career. Bravo.

seanflyon 12y ago

I went to Cornell and can only think of one person who comes close to fitting this description. Your imagination is far from reality. I may have a substantial selection bias, so perhaps there are people who fit your description, but they are certainly not typical.

cafard 12y ago

I have known (that I can be sure) two high-school valedictorians, one from my own HS class, one much younger. Neither in any way resembled the profile you seem to have in mind. I have no memory of where my HS classmate went, but suspect it was a state school. The younger one got wait-listed for the one Ivy she applied for, and went to a perfectly good school even so.