By: Neval Mulaomerovic
Recently, students in select Advanced Placement (AP) classes have been campaigning for an adjustment to the grading scales. Rather than having the standard 90 percent and above count as an ‘A-’ or ‘A’ grade, some would prefer for an ‘A-’ to be a score of 80 to 89 percent and an ‘A’ to be 90 percent and above. This scale would also adjust 70 to 79 percent to a ‘B,’ 60 to 69 percent to a ‘C,’ and so on. Though this scale may seem attractive at first, it presents some clear issues for students in these classes. A large issue with this system is that it devalues a student’s grade in the class. The range from 80 to 89 percent for an ‘A-’ is too wide, where a student just barely scraping by and a student on the verge of a 90 percent are scored equally on their report cards. Since minuses are being weighted less and less, this is even more problematic as students with scores of 82 percent and 97 percent would have the same Grade Point Average (GPA). With the standard grading scale of 10 percent increments, the smaller range minimizes this issue. An AP class is meant to be challenging; as a college-level class, it entails a much greater time commitment and workload. Students should not be surprised by the heavier workload when the class is specifically designed to be more advanced. Moreover, students taking these AP courses already receive the benefit of a one point GPA boost to account for their difficulty. Another grade boost is redundant and excessive. To be fair, some courses at MHS do use this grading scale and do not experience significant problems. This can be attributed to the fact that students signing up for those classes are well aware ahead of time and know exactly what to expect. They can anticipate a slightly higher workload to compensate for the more generous grading scale, which makes the class fair and balanced. That is why, most importantly, this change can not simply be made in the middle of a semester. When students begin a course, they should know exactly what they are signing up for and the amount of work that is required of them. Consistency is necessary throughout the school year. Otherwise, the grades in the first and second semesters of the same class would mean entirely different things. Students cannot simply expect a class to mold itself to be easier and more forgiving to their own wishes.
