But not all HS’s weight grades. There is a reason colleges do their own gpa based on grades, not extra points given by a HS. You live in your world but life is different elsewhere. A special ed kid can make the honor role (I once asked a teacher about this and class ranks, he assured me that those students would never replace those in the top ranks- 2000 or so HS kids).
I find it funny bordering on ridiculous to see the Tampa, FL area gpa’s for the top two students in various HS’s each spring. All on a 4.0 scale but some get below a 5.0 and others nearly an 8.0- not all schools offer the same numbers of AP/Honors classes (often based on demographics- some parts of the area are rich, others poor). It would be interesting to see the unweighted gpa’s.
Also, some schools use + and - to add/subtract fractions of a point. I learned from the mother of gifted twins that her son would do the work to barely get an A while his sister would do A++ work to get the same A grade.
Getting top grades by doing the busy work in addition to knowing the material is a reflection of life after school. You will be paid not for what you know but what you produce/added value. All of the ability, potential or knowledge in the world is meaningless to society without benefitting society in some way.
@wis75 , you also live in your world but life is different elsewhere. I’m fully aware that not all HS weight, that not all weight the same, that not all offer APs, that many colleges recalculate GPA for admissions or look at unweighted GPA only, and I’m also fully aware that most colleges look at schedule rigor in addition to GPA regardless of whether they consider weighted or unweighted GPA. In your district it may be possible for a special ed kid to make the honor roll but admissions officers will have no trouble differentiating between that student and one who takes five or six AP classes. My district makes that distinction between course loads more obvious but the end result is the same. In this particular case the OP’s student can be directly compared to his peers in his own school. If they are able to handle the AP course requirements successfully and he is not, his GPA can and should reflect that difference. Colleges will look at his course rigor, his grades (weighted or unweighted), his class rank, and his school profile to determine whether he’s admissions material. OP seems to think S is being specifically penalized, when everything described has been completely normal AP course expectations. The fact is that top schools are looking for unweighted As in maximum rigor courses, so it doesn’t matter whether a study hall/easy class kid can get a high rank or a student carries a 6.5 weighted GPA.
Our rigor school is always no lack of national top students. They maybe excellent and beat others in everything. Sometime it makes us nervous and suspect if we did a right choice to take a rigor school. If AOs can treat our B as A, we will release a lot. I know our B is harder than A in most schools.
Your kid’s school though, will have plenty of kids who choose rigour and get the As. It really doesn’t matter about your school being harder than any other school, as your school “is always no lack of national top students” your kid’s competition is the one handing in his homework and not whining about it.
@beth’s mom What we found especially frustrating was the growing number of universities that did not accept APs or would only grant exemption from a course but not actual course credit.
If they are more sophisticated, then they will apply logic. They will ask your school to send them the typical grades and course offerings of the top most students. Your child will be compared to that rubric since schools have different offerings and vary in strictness of grading.
Your school’s 3.75 GPA student may be viewed extremely highly if the top students are getting 3.78 whereas another school’s 3.85 GPA student won’t look so great if there are dozens of 4.0 students. Hope this makes sense. Good luck to your child
@wzg69g you keep referencing your son being punished. Your son is not being punished. He is getting what he deserves under the rules of the class. Remember there are other students who do the homework. If your son doesn’t do the homework he doesn’t deserve the same grade. Course grades are based on the entirety of the coursework.
I didn’t say that the teacher is unfair. I just feel it is a punishment to choose a rigor public school and ta ke the most difficult classes with many talent students since a tiny mistake can ruin his gpa. some kids may beonly take easy classes to keep good gpa，but it is worthless to me since if you want to learn knowledge，you should be fearless. I want kids to face real challenge，not just worry about tiny mistakes.
@wzg69g, neglecting to turn in homework one time is a tiny mistake. Continuing that pattern is not. Neglecting to follow exam instructions is not a tiny mistake. You seem unwilling to accept the fact that your son is not being punished. He is being held to appropriate standards for an AP class, and college classes will only have stricter standards even at the “softest” private school. Would you rather him learn now, in public high school, how to be adequately organized and approach rigorous standards, or do you prefer to have that lesson come at significantly more expense when he gets to college? In college if he doesn’t turn in assignments and doesn’t follow exam instructions he will face the same GPA consequences, and that will hurt him for grad school or job search. Please, stop saying he is being punished. He is not. If you think he can’t handle the rigorous course or school, then by all means move him to an easier high school and let him learn the tough lessons in college.
Is the latter a big issue? As long as the student is not forced to repeat material that s/he already knows well, but instead can take more advanced courses or additional electives to enhance his/her curriculum at college, are the credit units of significant concern?
In terms of non-acceptance even for subject exemptions and advanced placement, it looks like those colleges that have such policies have courses and curricula that do not include courses that the AP courses are close matches for the material covered.
“Public schools normally do not care and punish students too much. I saw private high schools are very nice to students and more easy and reasonable to get A.”
Is this some kind of whoosh? I didn’t realize there was a comedy hour on CC.