Unweighted GPAs the superior system

Years ago, when students’ parents were in high school, the valedictorian of their class would have had a “perfect 4.0.” Nowadays that seems strange, since many students carry GPAs of 4.0 or higher after the implementation of “weighted” GPAs and the five-point scale.

To be the top student, a measly 4.0 will no longer cut it anymore. But it’s time for the 4.0 to make a comeback.

With the weighted GPA system, students gain an extra grade point for Advanced Placement and Honors classes, making the maximum GPA value 5.0. But as students continue to take more and more AP and honors classes and earn skyrocketing GPAs, weighted GPAs are becoming a useless and ineffective way of grading.

A return back to the 4-point maximum GPA system would encourage students to base their class choices less on whether the class is AP or honors and more on whether they are actually interested in taking that particular subject. Students know that AP or honors classes will both increase their GPA­ and allow them to receive a lower grade while still earning the same GPA as if they were enrolled in a non-honors or AP class.

This change might also help discourage students from overloading their schedules with AP and honors classes, which would decrease stress and allow them to devote their time to areas that they are interested in.

By unweighting GPAs, comparing students’ grades from different schools would also be easier. Since the school does not offer honors or AP English and history the first two years (and the ones they do offer are few and far between), students’ GPAs appear lower than those of students at other high schools who had the opportunity to take higher level English and history classes in freshman and sophomore year. If schools did not use the weighted system, students whose schools did not offer higher level classes would not be penalized in their GPAs.

Even in the college application process, many colleges now do not look at students’ weighted GPAs, but rather just the classes a student has taken and the letter grades. Colleges can still determine whether applicants have challenged themselves based upon the academic rigor of their course load. Other colleges will recalculate their applicants’ GPAs, making the weighted GPA virtually unnecessary.

Although returning to unweighted GPAs would mean that the valedictorian could no longer be calculated based on solely GPA, this change could actually be a turn for the better. The valedictorian of a graduating class could instead be selected based on a combination of GPA, course rigor and excellence in school involvement (such as sports, music or drama).

Using the classic, unweighted GPA system would be beneficial to virtually all students. A return back to the 4-point scale would make the GPA hold greater value when applying to colleges. And, best of all, students might be more selective when choosing which AP and honors courses to take.