High schools are ditching the valedictorian title -- for exactly the reason you think

An alarming trend is happening at schools near you: Administrators are handing the title of valedictorian to dozens of students or ditching it altogether so kids don’t participate in “unhealthy competition.” Glenn Beck, Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere discussed how schools are not preparing students for the real world on Monday’s “The Glenn Beck Radio Program.”

The tradition of choosing the student with the best grades as valedictorian has been fading in the last decade or so, the Associated Press reported. A Tennessee school this year had 48 valedictorians. Part of the reason stems from “concerns about intense, potentially unhealthy competition and students letting worries about rank drive their course selections,” the AP reported.

Last year, a North Carolina school board nixed the titles of valedictorian and salutatorian after school administrators said the competition became “very unhealthy.”

Some schools are opting for a college-esque system of Latin honors where high school students can graduate “cum laude,” “magna cum laude” or “summa cum laude” based on their GPA.

“Competition is good,” Glenn said, adding, “Competition is about being better yourself. Can you better what you just did?”

To see more from Glenn, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” with Glenn Beck, Pat Gray, Stu Burguiere and Jeffy Fisher weekdays 9 a.m.–noon ET on TheBlaze Radio Network.