The Issue of Grades

The+Issue+of+Grades

Jack Moriarty

Grades play an important role in American high schools today. When students apply for college, the transcript that has their grade point average or GPA is sent to the colleges they apply for. Also, students may receive scholarships for maintaining a high GPA throughout high school, giving even more importance to the grades students receive. This can be seen as an issue for many reasons. For example, let’s say there are two teachers who teach the same class but one teacher has higher standards than the other. Because of this, students that are in the harder class will receive a lower grade in comparison to those in the easier class, hurting their chances to get accepted into competitive colleges and universities.

While the problem is clear to many, there are multiple solutions that have been discussed among students. One is showing the class average of grade on transcripts; if an A student receives a B but the class average is a C than the class difficulty can be shown for applicants. Another solution is creating school-wide standards for late work, redo assignments, and extra credit. This will give each class equal expectations resulting in fair grades. The only variable will be the teacher and if their students struggle far below average, then the administration will be able to investigate and see if the students failed themselves, or if their teacher failed to educate them.

“Frequently Asked Questions About Regulation A+.” LexisNexis Legal Room, www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/banking/b/venture-capital/archive/2015/07/06/frequently-asked-questions-about-regulation-a.aspx.