It's fine that so many people don't care about rankings or how other folks view them, but it's a little difficult to reconcile that with taking away a form of motivation that DOES help many students achieve more than they would have without a ranking system. Those that don't concern themselves with their rank in their class certainly aren't harmed by the existence of a ranking system, while those that DO care are motivated by that very same system to push themselves further than they would w/out the system. It's a win-win. Taking it away may help students feel better about doing or achieving less, but how is that a good thing?
I say this as a retired public school teacher and university professor who taught for thirty five years. There were always a number of exceptional, self-driven, brilliant students I was privileged to teach every year, but over the decades the more we focused on self-esteem and reinforced the concept of "you are ALL wonderful, exceptional individuals," the less the average overall achievement was, and the less motivated most students became to push themselves. Thirty years ago, virtually no students ever asked me, "Can I just take a 0 on this assignment instead of doing it?" In the last decade of my career, that was commonplace.
Not all things work for all students; each one is different, and finding what motivates each one is THE trick and greatest challenge of teaching. Taking AWAY a form of motivation is nonsensical, in my view... unless it's an overtly cruel motivation, like physical punishment for lack of achievement for instance. Reward for excellence is hardly cruel, and an excellent motivator for many.