Do You Deserve That 90? Teachers Take on the Reality of Grading Policies at Lab

During my time at Lab, I have kept a pretty consistent, generous GPA. When I shared with my friends at other schools that the expectation among students and families at Lab was a high GPA, they were completely shocked. They are always talking about how they slave over mountains of textbooks late into the night, something I have not experienced during my high school career. Last year a few teachers warned us that the workload and classroom expectations would increase. Because I know myself and my boundaries, I only took three AP courses, while my friends at other schools are required to take five. When walking through the halls of Lab, I have noticed students having meltdowns over grades (myself sometimes included), but I especially notice it this year, when classes have become more demanding not just for seniors but Lab as a whole. The question is, are classes actually getting harder or are teachers starting to grade “normally”?

It came to my attention last year that Lab was flagged for inflated grades. How does one's school get flagged for inflated grades? The basic answer is that if the school has a lot of “A” students with below average test scores, it gets flagged by the DOE. I wasn't able to get all the details about the situation, so I went to the teachers, the people who are experiencing community pressure to make sure that students are doing their best.

When speaking to my peers, Ms. Yang came up frequently as one of the harshest graders. I was one of the few students who heeded her warning during Physics last year and did not sign up for AP Biology. Right off the bat, there was a cloud of stress hanging above the heads of students taking the course this year. Tears were spilled over 80s and 70s, but evolved into celebrations because students began to appreciate the fact that they were passing the class. When I told her that she was labeled one of the harshest graders, her response was, in jest, “Should I wear it as a badge of honor? Maybe?” When it comes to Ms. Yang's grading system, she does her best to give out all the information that is needed in order to succeed, whether that is a rubric for a written lab or simply a right and wrong answer. She went on to say, “I do think I agree with them. I do think I am a harsh grader.” 

Ms. Yang believes that the transition from online learning back to in-person schooling shifted the way teachers have been grading. While earning a 97 was easy over Zoom because teachers were doing their best to support us for being “beautiful people” who showed up, we are now in a classroom and there is more required of us then just showing up. In her words, “You can be beautiful people but also not be exceeding mastery in Biology. Both things can co-exist.”

When it comes to outside pressure about grades, Ms. Yang does not blame families and students. “Grades are such a transactional currency for colleges,” she said. Because of that, students nowadays believe, “If I don't have good grades, my life will be a disaster.” So she understands why they react so viscerally to the slightest change in a GPA.

Ms. Yang was not alone in receiving outside pressure; however, Mr. Duru has his own take on the situation. “I feel like it's an expectation at Lab that every student have a 90 or better, and because of that expectation, when you give honest feedback about student work, students feel like they are being targeted,” he said. “They fight and advocate to get the grade but not the understanding of the assignment or understanding of the skill.” He continued, “There is an inflation of what students think they can do, which I feel like will be detrimental to them when they get to college.”  When asked whether or not he thinks he grades fairly, Mr. Duru laughed and exclaimed, “Absolutely not!” Looking out for his fellow faculty members, he explained, “I’m not exempt from the problem,” and “I have definitely fallen into the culture of ‘Okay I’ll acquiesce, I won't hurt your GPA’ because it's not worth the fight.” So in the end which is more important, the grade or the understanding you will walk away with? 

The truth is that a school system will never be truly perfect. We are told to go to school to learn and grow, yet in order to be considered for the heights we want to reach, we must keep an eye on our GPA. When high school culture is so focused on college, we can get lost in the task at hand, which is becoming better people. I believe it’s beneficial that we go through this transition to a stricter grading policy to prepare us for the type of grading we will be faced with in college. You might not be able to ask a professor, “Can you bump up my grade?” or cry, “You can't do this to my GPA!” There will always be a split on what is right and wrong when it comes to grades and their value, but we have to acknowledge the fact that teachers are doing their best. The next time you're about to cry or trash talk with friends about how one grade did you dirty, think about how much work it takes on the other side to even figure out what grade you deserve.