By Michael Yang
High school, for many, is the most important time of their lives: getting good grades is an integral factor in college applications. It is unfair, then, that in many high school classes, one’s grades are determined more by the teacher than by the student’s personal skill in the subject.
High school teachers, as of now, are not obligated to follow any specific grading standard; though all teachers of the same subject teach the same curriculum, how these teachers grade tests is often vastly different. Because of this, students are often frustrated by the fact that a less capable peer with a lenient teacher may have a higher grade. This is not only unfair to the individual student, but unstandardized grading causes the system to lose credibility. Therefore, it is important in having a set grading scale for each class, so that regardless of the teacher, each student has an equal opportunity for an A. The fact that, for example, one teacher considers an 89% an A, while another teacher of the same subject only considers a 90% an A, is unfair. Not only that, but the fact that one teacher can consider an essay an ‘A’ level essay, while another considers the same work a B-, is unfair and inconsistent with the idea that education should give everyone an equal opportunity.
By standardizing the grading scale, not only do we give students a more equal opportunity for success later on in life, we also lend more credence to the grade itself. If a 4.0 relies more on individual talent, rather than luck, to achieve, the system becomes much more trustworthy.
