Seriously? Half the class is honors students? Half the class has achieved something worth recognizing? Half the class is in the upper 25%? My math skills are not that great, but I think that is not accurate.
What a horrible message that people simply need to show up, not do anything special, and they get special rewards.
Try doing that at most jobs and see what happens.
Try doing that in a marriage and you’d have a 50% divorce rate. Oh, wait, we are there.