(October 4, 2004) — It’s the anticipated–or for some quite the opposite–day that report cards come in the mail. Students rush to the mailbox to see if they did well enough on the final to push them that one percent they needed to reach the next letter grade. For some, it is a joyous moment as they receive the grade they wanted, but for others who were so close to that A or that B, but not completely there, it is a moment of utter frustration. Our grading system, consisting of only whole letter grades, is unjust and completely outdated. GUSD has a grading committee that discusses and tries to amend policies in order to make grades more “fair.” On the contrary, the committee seems to be doing completely the opposite. Instead of focusing on vital topics such as including a more detailed grading system in high schools, they chose to discuss making grades more standardized. A rubric was created to determine the standards for each grade letter. To receive an A, a student must “demonstrate understanding at or above the conceptual level” or “demonstrate mastery of the standards all of the time.” However, these vague standards seem to do nothing to make grades more fair or even standardized, for that matter. To one teacher, “mastery” of the material can be completely different from another. Instead of making unnecessary changes to our already unfair system, the school board needs to focus on adding plusses and minuses—something that’s been on their agenda for two years now—or, even better, percentages to our semester report cards. What makes it fair that a person who receives an 89.4% receives the same grade as a student who got barely an 80%? Why not get more specific and give them the percentage that they earned in the class? Average the percentages, and that would be the student’s GPA. It’s getting to the point where students have to be one of the top to get into prestigious universities. It is not fair for grades that have up to a ten percent difference to be counted as the same. The change in the grading system would also motivate students to study more. If a student has an 85% in a class going into the final, the student usually has no hope of raising or dropping it, so the student simply does not study. However, if the student knew their grade would either increase or decrease, they would at least attempt to study. By having such a vague grading system, we are making it so students with a solid grade give up at striving for the next letter grade. With a GUSD grading committee focusing on how to improve the grading system, our district has the perfect opportunity to make productive changes. Let’s start with making grades more specific to what the students earned.