Do Valedictorians Always Succeed? 

In high school, valedictorians are at the top of their class and seemingly untouchable. They maintain perfect grades and have outstanding test scores, but studies show that this may be the only time they reach the highest point of achievement. 

In a study conducted by Karen Arnold, in which she followed the lives of 81 valedictorians, Arnold explains, “Valedictorians aren’t likely to be the future’s visionaries, they typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up.” This means that valedictorians generally do not aim to work outside of their comfort zones and tend to stay working in the same patterns that they did throughout high school. In another article, NBC states, “Many valedictorians…confessed a strong preference for giving their teachers what they seemed to want, as opposed to truly absorbing the material.” This mindset causes high school valedictorians to stop achieving highest when they go out into the real world.  

“People feel like valedictorians can take care of themselves,” Arnold said, “but just because they could get ‘A’s doesn’t mean they can translate academic achievement into career achievement.” Many valedictorians only excel in school studies, but when it comes to real-world experiences, they tend to lack in the street smarts it takes to succeed in life outside of high school. Though this isn’t always the case, it is common. Valedictorians often confess to not having developed proper study habits while in high school which leads to them struggling with college curriculum. Even Cass High’s valedictorian candidate, Noah Arnold, confessed to not having the expected study habits of a student at his caliber, saying, “I learn the curriculum, but I usually do not study. I tend to retain most of the material and [therefore] test well, but I do think that college will be harder. I plan to study during college and hope to maintain my grades throughout.” This lack of study habit is common among valedictorians, they generally are pre-disposed to testing well and thus do not worry about spending extra time to study. 

Though many high school valedictorians meet a few unlikely impediments in life because of their habits in school, many of them turn out to have successful careers even if they don’t climb to the top of their occupational ladder.