Dear Editor,

I must ask: Has the system contributed to our children’s lack of motivation to strive for academic excellence? I attended the recent graduation ceremony of the Class of 2007 of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School. As I sat waiting for the ceremony to begin, I perused the awards on the back of the programme.

I noticed that two young ladies dominated the awards: Ms. Ojeda Vanterpool with six academic awards ( Mathematics, Economics, Caribbean History, Biology and English B) and Ms. Amanda Romney with four academic awards (Mathematics, Geography, Chemistry and Physics). I then noticed that neither of these young ladies received the valedictorian award.

I reflected on the 14 September edition of The Anguillian with the lead story “Special Salute to Our Top CAPE and CSEC Students.” Of the pictures displayed, six students represented lower school students with five or more CXC CSEC Grade 1s. The two young ladies highlighted above were featured in the center of the group with larger pictures in recognition of their outstanding performance.

I was quite surprised that the school felt that neither of these students or any of the other four students merited the valedictorian award.

Around the world, the valedictorian is recognized as the student with the highest academic standing in the graduating class. We in Anguilla are always trying to harmonize our systems and processes to conform to international standards. What happened here?

Clearly a message has been sent to all the other underclassmen. The message: “Do not expect to be rewarded for your academic efforts.” Unfortunately, criteria other than merit was used to select the valedictorian in 2007. I do applaud the 2007 Valedictorian for his valedictory speech. His presentation style and clarity of diction were outstanding. However, academic excellence should be the predominating criteria for the selection of the valedictorian.

Most likely, some other striving student has been discouraged by the message sent and will lower his/her standard for academic excellence due to disillusionment. What a pity!

Disappointed Observer

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