Juniors Kyle Odoy and Kate Taylor have contrasting opinions on class ranks, and whether we should keep them or not. 

“I don’t stress a lot about it, but it definitely means something to me,” said Odoy. “It motivates me to get my work done.”

On the other hand, Taylor opposes class ranks and believes students would be better off without them. 

“They do stress me out,” said Taylor. “Without them I think it would be better… because it will get rid of the competitiveness in school.”

This leaves the question, should we really get rid of them? Newburyport High School, has already made their decision, and eliminated class ranks for their students.

“This was a student initiated plan and the petition was signed my (sic) many,” said Cheryl Sweeny, co-chair of the school committee. “Students said there was great anxiety about getting ranked…” according to the Newburyport News article by Dyke Hendrickson,  “Class ranks eliminated at Newburyport High School.”

Newburyport High School isn’t alone, many people across the country feel the same way, that we don’t need class ranks. In “The Case for Abolishing Class Rank” by Alfie Kohn in Psychology Today, Kohn explains that research shows that students tend to care less about what they are learning, and focus more on the grade itself that they receive, when compared to students who aren’t ranked at all. Students who are ranked show a tendency to think less of themselves. 

Dr. Ellen Moore said that she believes class ranks are an unnecessary pressure for students to have, and she herself felt a lot of pressure to maintain a high class rank in high school. She said that students should be able to find out their class ranks if they want to, at the end of their high school experience.

“It is not a valid indicator of success,” said Moore.

Students can receive a higher class rank than others by not challenging themselves at all. By taking easier classes and just cruising through their classes, their class rank is not a valid indicator of hard work and challenging themselves to be better, Moore said. 

“I don’t like class ranks because they are a false representation of students’ intelligence,” said junior Izzie Reiniger. “I think it’s wrong to rank kids from best to worse in general, but it’s even worse that it is based on nothing but grade point averages.”

However, there is concern that without class ranks, students may not be judged correctly by colleges. 

There are mixed opinions on the idea of getting rid of class ranks, some believe they are beneficial for students to push themselves, and others believe they are only hurting students. Newburyport students were able to get rid of their class ranks, so if enough students at Triton feel the same, it is possible for Triton to get rid of them.