Hornstein v. Moorestown

Scott Hardie | May 6, 2003
A Philadelphia-area teenager is suing her high school because it wants to have a co-valedictorian, preventing her from being the only one. Here's the article. She's disabled and has been taught at home by teachers, and has earned the highest GPA in the graduating class. The school's position is that she has received special attention in her own home and has been able to take AP classes at her leisure, which gave her an unfair advantage. Her position is that accomodations for her disability made her equal to everyone else, and she should be judged on that merit. Personally, I wouldn't side so much with the school if she wasn't suing for 2.7 million fucking dollars; talk about overkill. What do you think?

Anna Gregoline | May 6, 2003
Everyone, please read about this first before responding. She claims to suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome, and the only class she really missed was gym. Please.

Denise Sawicki | May 7, 2003
Well, I only read the article Scott linked but to me it sounds like the school has a point. She apparently took more AP classes than anyone adhering to the school's regular schedule would have been able to take. Hence because of the greater weighting of AP classes in the GPA, she got a higher GPA than anyone would have been able to get by getting straight A+'s adhering to the school's regular schedule. The school apparently felt that a person shouldn't *have* to use a non-traditional schedule in order to be named the valedictorian. Anyhow she already got into Harvard so what possible harm is it going to do her to be the co-valedictorian instead of the sole valedictorian? And how do they arrive at the figure of $2.7 million anyhow??I think maybe her parents push her way too hard or something. (Myself, I wasn't valedictorian because I got a B in gym in 10th grade, which I think is a pretty dumb reason, but I guess I never cared...)

Anna Gregoline | May 7, 2003
She got into like 6 Ivy League schools. And her dad is a lawyer, which she wants to be too. Go figure.

Jackie Mason | May 8, 2003
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Jeff Flom | May 8, 2003
It is very sad how society has turned everything into a competition. Education is supposed to be done for yourself. If this young woman were truly educated she would not mind sharing the top spot because being better than everyone else is not a high priority to an enlightened person.
Unfortunately this woman is going to go to Harvard and hence will probably become a leader in our society.

Scott Hardie | June 15, 2003
Here's an update. It turns out she won the case (no word on how much money), but she's suffering for it anyway.