Have you ever wondered what becomes of high school valedictorians? The answer might surprise you
A recent study conducted by a researcher at Boston University discovered that valedictorians and salutatorians rarely become successful later in life, Business Insider reports.
Eric Barker followed valedictorians and salutatorians into their adult lives and discovered that they rarely achieved the traditional aspects that society considers to be successful. While half of the graduates went on to work in top-tier professional jobs, Barker realized something peculiar. “But how many of these number-one high-school performers go on to change the world, run the world, or impress the world? The answer seems to be clear: zero,” he stated.
The researcher thinks that there are two main reasons for this. First of all, he considers that “schools reward students who consistently do what they are told”, while in life, things tend out to work a bit differently and the most successful people are those who try and think outside the box. “In school, rules are very clear. In life, rules are not so clear. So a certain amount of not playing by the rules is advantageous once you get out of a closed system like education,” Barker explains.
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The second cause he believes to be the fact that ”schools reward being a generalist”, while the real world relies on expertise in a particular domain in order to reach the top, and passion is also a critical element. Therefore, excellence in a particular domain is highly rewarded and sought after.
“Valedictorians often go on to be the people who support the system — they become a part of the system — but they don’t change the system or overthrow the system,” Eric Barker summed up his research.
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