At least, that's the conclusion of a recent academic study that is drawing a lot of attention in the media and among educators and college admissions officers. Written by Paul Attewell, a sociology professor at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, "The Winner-Take-All High School: Organizational Adaptations to Educational Stratification" appeared last month in the journal Sociology of Education.
Attewell contends that students at "star" public high schools had lower grades and lower class rank than if they attended a "regular" school thanks to increased competition and stricter grading standards.
Lower class rank, in turn, prevents some students who would be valedictorian at one school -- but rank 25th at a star school -- from gaining admission to a school such as Yale or Harvard.
The study's findings have been reported in The Washington Post, Education Week and The (Raleigh) News & Observer.
It has fueled fears among parents and students at these "star" high schools that their child might get the short end of the stick when college acceptance letters begin getting mailed out -- and raised some concerns in our area.
Those fears are unfounded. Attewell's study -- though not a cursory examination -- overstates the importance of class rank.
Going to a star high school, such as Chapel Hill High School or East Chapel Hill High School, does not hurt your chances of getting into a good college. It greatly increases those odds.
Class rank is an issue that has sweated students at ECHHS before. Earlier this year, the school asked the state for permission to drop class rank from students' transcripts. All public schools in the state are required to use the Student Information Management System, which reports class rank. The state subsequently denied that request -- and rightfully so.
It would be grossly unfair for one school in the state to be able to abolish class rank because of increased student competition. It's a matter of the privileged whining.