To 'B' or Not to 'B'

The Samohi examines the politics of grades on the brink.Max GumbelStaff WriterI studied every night, agonized over every problem, and on two particularly horrible nights, cried in desperation. Of the numerous school subjects incorporated into the Samo curriculum, math was and remains not my strongest class. Despite any weaknesses, I was determined to work as hard as possible and pull off that holy 90 percent, required to achieve the complete four grade points.So you can imagine my frustration when my first semester grade in Steve Rupprecht’s Pre-Calculus class evened out to an 89 percent.In an educational system that revolves around alphabetic values, a mark that falls just short of a higher letter grade is deemed catastrophic.Though colleges often take pluses and minuses into account when viewing transcripts, the Samo grading system only looks at letter grades when calculating grade point averages.According to History teacher Matt Flanders, my case is not that anomalous.“About 35 percent of my students fall in the window between an 89 percent and a 90 percent,” Flanders said.In addition, Chemistry teacher Martha Chacon says that four to five of her students ask her to raise their grade each semester.With so many students asking for grade boosts, teachers have been developing specific policies for such instances. Chacon sets her grading system to round up grades within half of a percent from a higher letter grade, while other teachers give extra credit assignments, have students find points in missing worksheets and problems, and even let students borrow a percentage point from next semester's grade. Granted, some teachers offer no respite for students desperate for a higher grade.Junior Irene Chang believes that the best policy is rounding to the nearest whole percentage.“When grades are due, students should be given some safety with their grade, rather than having a final exam as the very last effect on a grade,” Chang said.However, H-House Principal and former Spanish/AVID teacher Leslie Wells finds that there are flaws with many grade-boosting policies, specifically those involving extra credit.“The idea of extra credit bothers me, as it becomes a moral dilemma,” Wells said. “Do teachers give it for all students in the same situation, or just for the students who ask?”Chang says that teachers can provide certain students with unfair advantages as far as extra credit distribution."Some of the more lenient teachers give boosts based on relationships with certain students,” Chang said. "Some teachers also offer extra credit unfairly for going to after-school Samo sports games, even though many people can't attend them because they have their own sports practice or have a tutor."Wells also finds that some students’ demands for extra credit come out of no motivation to actually learn the material, but only the desire to get a good grade.“Some students don’t do the homework, or don’t do it well, and therefore don’t put themselves in the best position to succeed.  Waiting until the last minute and expecting a teacher to bump a grade because a student is suddenly interested in getting the best possible grade is disrespectful to the teacher,” Wells said. “That kind of expectation ignores a whole semester of the teacher trying to get students to do their best.”But rounding grades on the brink can sometimes have a much bigger effect than just getting the best possible grade."Last year, one of my grades was between a C and D. If I didn't get at least a 70 percent in the class I would've failed," a Samo junior said. "It wasn't just about getting the higher grade, it was about passing and not having to retake the class."

 And even in situations with less at stake, can students be blamed for placing a higher priority on "good" grades than on actual knowledge? As American high school students, people at Samo are brought up to aim for high grades, not necessarily high understanding; none of our parents promise pecuniary rewardsfor "learning a lot".

Indeed, Chacon said some of the disrespectful grade-boosting requests have involved 'A'-thirsty parent interventions.“Parents have tried to bribe me with money, gift cards, and new classroom equipment to raise their kids' grades,” Chacon said. "One time, a professor of education at a university tried to bribe me to raise his kid's grade from a 'C' to a 'B', because the college where the parent worked was only going to offer the kid a full scholarship if he got a 'B' in the class."Though such measures are all too extreme, Chang understands the frustration about grades that many students and parents feel.“It is unfair that even though the difference between an 80 percent and an 89.5 percent is almost 10 percent, there is no difference grade point-wise,” Chang said. “Just boosting a grade up a tiny bit can make a huge difference.”But according to Wells, these parents and students share the false mentality that having the best grades, even if they are not deserved, is necessary to go to a good college.“There is an irrational fear that a lower grade is going to keep students out of college,” Wells said. “We have to remind ourselves that colleges and universities do not just accept students because they have all ‘A’s.  Schools are looking for many more factors than just grades.”With my grade on the brink in math class, I had fallen guilty to that very mentality. Having a ‘B’ instead of an ‘A’ made me feel like a lesser student, and led me to think that I couldn’t get into a highly selective school or even become a successful contributor to society; I was more willing to negotiate a better grade than to accept the one I had.“The question to ask yourself is, ‘do you want to have a doctor who negotiated his or her grade in school, or one who truly earned their grade?’” Wells said. “I would tend to choose the person who truly earned it.”mgumbel@thesamohi.com