Philosophical Vegan Forum

My school board doesn't understand the concept of grade weighting, so I'm trying to contact them to change their minds. They, in a four to three decision, decided NOT to weight grades for classes students took this year, for reasons such as:
1) You can't change the rules in the middle of the game. ( This isn't a game.)
2) Not fair to seniors, because it doesn't include them (it doesn't include them because they ALREADY SENT OUT THEIR APPLICATIONS...)
3) Colleges will check to see if grades are unweighted or weighted anyway (except they DON'T).

Dear __________,

My name is ________, and I'm a ________ at ____________. Today, my dad received an email about how the school is going to begin weighting grades... next year.

I am enrolled in a lot of honors and AP classes, such as AP World. The first marking period, I got a 94 in AP World, and now that stays as a 94. If a student takes the same course next year and gets the same grade, that becomes a 104. This is inherently unfair, and it's extremely disappointing to me that the school board didn't decide to start weighting grades this year.

It's a system that basically discourages students from taking higher classes in which they learn more information, because they automatically will get a lesser grade, and that grade won't be weighted. I don't understand the point of this. All of the honors and AP classes I'm taking this year will arbitrarily lower my grade, and that's just unfair and serves no purpose that I can see.

Please reconsider the idea of weighting classes students took this year.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
__________

Just worried this is too hostile.
I'm also sending nice emails to the people who pushed for fixing this system, and I'm asking them to bring it up at the board.

That's not bad.

You might want to consider switching to the normal versions of those classes, which will give you more time for independent study and give you a higher GPA when you graduate, since they're probably not going to change it.

If you consider that, maybe mention it in the letter.

The letter is good. Not hostile at all.

Regarding point 1 I agree with them that you don't change the rules in the middle of the game. Change should be determined between quarters/semesters.

Regarding points 2 and 3 if a system is stupid it needs to be changed. There may never be an optimal time to make the change but it must nevertheless be changed.

brimstoneSalad wrote:That's not bad.

You might want to consider switching to the normal versions of those classes, which will give you more time for independent study and give you a higher GPA when you graduate, since they're probably not going to change it.

If you consider that, maybe mention it in the letter.

It's something I've considered, but colleges eventually end up seeing if you take honors/AP classes and that it's unweighted.
Students in a class did a study on whether or not colleges distinguish between the weighted and unweighted grades, and it was found that most of them do eventually, but first they just make piles of grades above certain numbers, and if you don't make it into one of those piles originally (because you took an honors/AP class which brought your grade down because it wasn't weighted), then they might not give you a second look.

Jebus wrote:The letter is good. Not hostile at all.

Regarding point 1 I agree with them that you don't change the rules in the middle of the game. Change should be determined between quarters/semesters.

Regarding points 2 and 3 if a system is stupid it needs to be changed. There may never be an optimal time to make the change but it must nevertheless be changed.

Well, they could easily change it for next quarter onward, but they won't.
Either way, I don't understand why you can't change the rules in the middle of the game when it benefits students and makes the system more fair. I don't see a downside. One point they made that I didn't mention was that it's unfair to students who didn't take honors/AP classes because it wasn't weighted, which is absurd, because everyone assumes you get more credit for taking higher classes. It's BS.

Hmm.

I may be lacking an understanding of grade weighting, so spell it out for me if I'm missing something. From what I gather, it is making it easier to achieve a higher grade in a honors/ap class due to their difficulty. I'm assuming this is a concern because of GPA or something like it. But....

If I recall correctly, you had to specifically sign up (and meet minimum requirements) to be in an honors/ap class. (I vaguely remember signing paperwork regarding those classes) So no one forced you to take them, right? (This is a real possibility depending on your parents, I know, so I'm assuming that you took them willingly.)

If you signed up for the more difficult classes willingly, yet want the grading system changed, it seems to me like selecting "difficult" mode in a video game, then wanting to use cheat codes once you realize how much harder it is. (Again, if I am missing key aspects please point them out.)

Edit: In response to the OP, no, the letter did not seem hostile at all. I just wanted to argue reasoning for sending it..

PsYcHo wrote:Hmm.

I may be lacking an understanding of grade weighting, so spell it out for me if I'm missing something. From what I gather, it is making it easier to achieve a higher grade in a honors/ap class due to their difficulty. I'm assuming this is a concern because of GPA or something like it. But....

If I recall correctly, you had to specifically sign up (and meet minimum requirements) to be in an honors/ap class. (I vaguely remember signing paperwork regarding those classes) So no one forced you to take them, right? (This is a real possibility depending on your parents, I know, so I'm assuming that you took them willingly.)

If you signed up for the more difficult classes willingly, yet want the grading system changed, it seems to me like selecting "difficult" mode in a video game, then wanting to use cheat codes once you realize how much harder it is. (Again, if I am missing key aspects please point them out.)

Edit: In response to the OP, no, the letter did not seem hostile at all. I just wanted to argue reasoning for sending it..

That's totally fine. Your logic is completely invalid, though.

Yes, we chose to take challenging classes, of course. But we should get appropriate credit for taking them. Getting a 94 in Chemistry requires less work than getting a 94 in Honors Chemistry, and that should be reflected in the grades through weighting. If it doesn't, that's just not giving people credit for doing the work that they did.
In addition, it disincentivizes students from taking these types of classes. Our college applications are evaluated based on GPA, and there is a pile made of students from a given school with grades of the top tenth percentile. Because this is unweighted, students who do less work taking regular classes may make it into those piles while students who do more work in honors/AP classes will not, and that's just stupid.
Eventually, colleges learn that the grades are unweighted and whether or not you took honors/AP classes, but if you don't make it into that pile in the first place, you may not get a second look.

It's extremely stupid on multiple levels.

I hope that clears it up.

EquALLity wrote: That's totally fine. Your logic is completely invalid, though.

Is it? I think you explained it well though, I wasn't sure about weighting. Now I am and I definitely disagree! If your only concern is for the GPA, why not just take the regular classes and ace them?

I'm going out on a limb here and supposing that if you are in high school, and taking AP classes, you are of a higher than average intelligence. Doesn't that in itself give you an unfair advantage over someone who tries their best to pass "normal" classes. They want to go to the same colleges too. So you and they both studied your best and achieved a 94 in chemistry. What makes you so sure that the lesser IQ gifted student didn't work just as hard as you to get that 94?

PsYcHo wrote:

EquALLity wrote: That's totally fine. Your logic is completely invalid, though.

Is it? I think you explained it well though, I wasn't sure about weighting. Now I am and I definitely disagree! If your only concern is for the GPA, why not just take the regular classes and ace them?

I'm going out on a limb here and supposing that if you are in high school, and taking AP classes, you are of a higher than average intelligence. Doesn't that in itself give you an unfair advantage over someone who tries their best to pass "normal" classes. They want to go to the same colleges too. So you and they both studied your best and achieved a 94 in chemistry. What makes you so sure that the lesser IQ gifted student didn't work just as hard as you to get that 94?

My only concern isn't the GPA, and that's not the point. It's about us objectively doing more stuff and learning more and not getting credit for it.

It requires more work regardless of your IQ, and if you have a higher IQ, that should be reflected in your grade, because IQ is relevant when it comes to college.

EquALLity wrote: My only concern isn't the GPA, and that's not the point. It's about us objectively doing more stuff and learning more and not getting credit for it.

It requires more work

I still disagree. I know people with much lower IQ's than I (and I am no Einstein), who worked their asses off and studied hard every day for weeks to do what I could do in one night. Your argument seems to be both "I worked harder" and "I learned more". As far as learning more, I'll concede you did that, but I'm hammering out (IMO) you didn't necessarily work harder. And I wouldn't be hammering as much if it didn't seem like your prevalent argument is based on the amount of work it took to achieve your current grade.

(This is not an attack analogy, but just a "look at it this way" analogy")- It could take a child on the far end of the autism spectrum years to learn the alphabet. It took you months to learn advanced placement chemistry. Who worked harder? I've seen AP students "cram" and break down, and I've seen autistic children get so frustrated they punch themselves in the head.

EquALLity wrote: if you have a higher IQ, that should be reflected in your grade, because IQ is relevant when it comes to college.

So your natural gift should automatically give you an edge over those who don't have it? So if they work twice as hard, but you are 2.5 times as smart, then the scholarship should go to you, not them? Wouldn't it benefit them more to have this "higher learning" that colleges offer?