+1 for SHS: get rid of the plus-minus system

May 1, 2013 — by Ariel Liu
A+ graphic

“Just Be Kind” was the anthem of the school a month ago, in a stirring push by the ASB to improve school atmosphere and combat student stress. Those hardworking student government members spent hundreds of hours trying to help their school—yet the most cost-effective solution to the school’s dog-eat-dog competitive environment might be a lot simpler.

“Just Be Kind” was the anthem of the school a month ago, in a stirring push by the ASB to improve school atmosphere and combat student stress. Those hardworking student government members spent hundreds of hours trying to help their school—yet the most cost-effective solution to the school’s dog-eat-dog competitive environment might be a lot simpler.
If the school really wants to improve the school spirit, the easiest and most efficient way would be to get rid of the pluses and minuses in students’ transcripts. Removing these symbols would lessen the highly competitive atmosphere, resulting in much less student stress. A simple letter grade is enough to signify one’s academic achievement in a course.
    Imagine an Ivy League college admissions officer looking through the transcripts of a student from Saratoga High and a student from Monta Vista High School, schools similar in academic achievement. Both students have excellent grades, but the transcript from Monta Vista does not show the A minuses or B minuses the student received; instead, it only shows A’s and B’s. 
Supposedly, admissions officers are unbiased to this information because they know of the schools’ differing policies. Yet, admissions are often based on subjective choices. Can we confidently say that those minuses make no difference?
Not only do minuses hurt in admissions, but they also cause unneeded competition among students. It’s Jan. 21, two weeks after winter break. Report cards are just starting to arrive in the mail, and among my friends whose grades reside mostly in the stratosphere of A’s, the way we compare and rank ourselves is by the number of A minuses we receive.
In most schools, receiving an A minus would be considered excellent. However, this does not always hold true for Saratoga students. If we really value having our students learn for the sake of learning, we should just do away with the stress-inducing minus.
The A minus is also very arbitrary. Different teachers have different standards for A minuses. 
“I remember how bitter some of my fellow Kucer-ites were,” junior Samuel Liu said, referencing the students of former Chemistry teacher Bob Kucer, whose classes were notoriously difficult. “We’d slave away at these impossible tests to get that A, which was a 94, while other easier Chem classes only needed to get a 92 for an A.”
The minus system simply doesn’t make sense—a 93 is sometimes an A, and sometimes an A minus. Does the difference between an A minus and an A really account for the difference between an average and a superb student? And at the very least, teachers should coordinate so that they don’t unfairly grade their students. 
If A minuses are counted as A’s, life would be much simpler. The school environment would be friendlier and students could place more focus on extracurricular activities as opposed to on academics.
“My life would be 50% easier,” Liu said. “At least an hour more of sleep every night.”
Our neighbor high schools Palo Alto, Lynbrook, Gunn, Monta Vista, and Cupertino all do not include pluses or minuses in student’s transcripts. This begs the question: why should we? If we polled the students, I strongly believe that the students would most certainly wish to abolish the plus minus system. There is no need nor desire for this arbitrary and defunct system of grading. 
In order to better our school as a whole, it’s essential that we remove the pluses and minuses in transcripts. That change, without a doubt, would be a plus. 
 
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