Errant Grading System

When I started at Brooklyn Latin two years ago, it felt like home. Sure it was hard, and sometimes I felt overwhelmed, but there was a strong community of discipuli and magistri I could rely on. With the introduction of the new grading system this year, that tightly-knit community—not to mention the happiness of our discipuli—is threatened. Here is why.

As a specialized high school, Brooklyn Latin constantly runs the risk of becoming a “pressure cooker” high school. So far, we have managed to avoid this kind of unhealthy competition among students. Discipuli prioritize their peers’ achievement along with their own, and, in general, are happy to help. This is the TBLS that I have known and loved for the last two years. The support that I received from my peers has made me a stronger student and a more generous person.

Last year, when interviewed for an article about the online grade book PupilPath, our Director for Teaching and Learning, Malcolm Hill, said that “we really value as a school not having that kind of “pressure cooker” environment…that’s part of the reason that we have ABCF grading [having only four possible grades “A,”“B,”“C,” or “F”] and not ‘plus or minus’ grading. Because we really want you guys and our teachers to be focused on what they’re learning, not what their grade is.”

Why then, has our school’s administration made an enormous shift, going past the “plus or minus” level grading, straight to numeric grades?

The answer I have gotten over and over again is that numeric grades will help with college admissions and with earning merit-based scholarships. In an interview with Magister Hill, he explained “our students were at a relative disadvantage to other students because of the way that our grading system scaled.”

I think that this is a strong argument, and I can understand why it is appealing to so many parents and students—there is quite a bit of hype about getting into college. Still, we have to ask ourselves what our priorities are. Of course, college admissions are important, but should they take precedent over everything? Even the community that Brooklyn Latin has forged for the last 10 years? Even the happiness and mental stability of our students?

High school is a place for learning about oneself as much as it is a place for education about the outside world. Numeric grading squashes that aspect of the high school experience because it gives no room for experimentation. There’s no space for even the slightest error, because every point counts. Therefore, discipuli must always prioritize studying and schoolwork over self-exploration (a topic that is largely left out by the TBLS curriculum), because there is never a break. There’s never a point at which one can check PupilPath, and sigh in relief. This year, we are never in the clear.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I should be studying.