by Julia Mendes
“Line up in alphabetical order!” It’s a phrase we have heard ever since entering elementary school, as parent volunteers lined us up for picture day and our teachers positioned us in orderly rows of desks.
For most students whose last names begin with letters at the end of the alphabet, this common practice may have simply seemed like a trivial inconvenience. However, it may have put them at a disadvantage that is far more long-term.
Senior Callum Wayman asserts that he is “…always one of the last people for everything.  When people assign seats by alphabetical order, you’re at a disadvantage. You generally don’t get one of the best seats. I deal with it, but it’s frustrating,” he said.
Freshman Hallie Traiman suffers from the same alphabetical discrimination as Wayman.  “It was annoying to have to wait for everyone else’s names to be called before mine, because by the time mine was called the entire audience was tired of sitting and ready to leave,” said Traiman, recalling her eighth-grade graduation.
Certain aspects of having a last name at the end of the alphabet may seem petty, but a life of being arranged in alphabetical order could have an impact on future success.
A recent study conducted at Georgetown and Belmont universities and another at Stanford University, UCLA, and CalTech verify the effects of  what is called alphabetical discrimination. Both studies show a correlation between an individual’s success and the first letter of his last name. Success was measured by Nobel Prize and Clark Medal awards, tenure in various professions and the prominence of writers who have collaborated on written publications. People with last names that come early in the alphabet achieved more success.
Despite the studies, many students  remain skeptical of alphabetical discrimination.
For example, senior Emma Budiansky, who likes to sit “front and center voluntarily” in her classes said, “Sometimes I’m in the front because of my last name. However, I think teachers who sit students alphabetically do so in rows and not columns, so sometimes my last name gets me in the back corner of the classroom and not near the front at all… I don’t find this theory about last names surprising, but I do question its legitimacy.”
Budiansky might be right to have her doubts.  According to data from the counseling department, of the 35 students in the top 10 percent of the class of 2010, nearly the same percentage had last names in the first half of the alphabet as had last names in the last half.  The very slight advantage held by the students with last names from A to M was too small to be statistically significant. Still, the emotional effect of being controlled by so random a power as the alphabet can be strong, even if it happens only occasionally.
Junior Julie Busch said, “I get really frustrated if my teachers ever call attendance backwards.  One time my gym teacher was calling our names that way to allow us to go to the locker room and it was taking her forever to get to me.  Since my name is at the beginning of the alphabet, the wait just felt so much longer.”
Social studies teacher David Multer seats his students alphabetically, but says that there are a number of things to consider when making his seating arrangements.  “By law, we may have to make accommodations for students if need be, [for example], behavior or any medical conditions that they may have,” said Multer.    Mainly he seats his students alphabetically simply because it “facilitates learning names quickly.”
Hearing about the results of the university studies failed to change Multer’s mind about alphabetical discrimination.  “There are just too many factors,” he said.