Oxford High School’s system for calculating the grade point average (GPA) of their students is unclear and inefficient. The system is also easy for students to manipulate, making GPA an inaccurate indicator of who has challenged themselves and done well throughout their high school career.
At Oxford, being well-rounded hurts a student’s GPA. Students have to figure out what they will prioritize for colleges: attempting to be valedictorian or pursuing each of their passions. To become valedictorian, one cannot be on a sports team, be editor of the yearbook or newspaper, sing in choir or play in the band or orchestra. These extracurriculars count as 4.0 in the GPA calculation and therefore will lower the GPA of students that are primarily taking Advanced Placement (AP) or Dual Credit (DC) classes. This
is unfair for students because they are forced to choose when they should not have to. Being well-rounded is also important for college applications, so either decision could possibly hurt a student. Some students drop their extracurriculars solely to boost their GPA.
Extracurriculars, especially sports, taking place during the school day also hurts a student’s chances of being valedictorian because they have less time to fit challenging classes into their schedule. This means, to participate in all the classes an advanced student wants to take, they must sacrifice sports. Students who do not play sports are at an automatic advantage because they have more blocks to fit in classes that boost their GPA. This limits the extracurriculars a student pursuing valedictorian can participate in to clubs that occur outside of school, such as speech and debate or envirothon.
To become valedictorian, an understanding of how GPA is calculated is necessary. OHS’s system has a cap on how many AP credits count towards GPA. The maximum amount of credits is 16. There is no cap on the number of credits a student can earn for Pre-AP (honors) courses or DC courses, though there are contingencies on what DC courses count for OHS GPA (they must be courses offered by the high school or required for Scholastic Institute coursework). This encourages taking a mix of AP and DC courses. At a certain point, taking DC classes boosts GPA more than taking AP classes as the credit limit for AP’s is hit. This can cause issues for students who want to go out of state for college, as DC courses are often not accepted outside of schools in Mississippi. They must sacrifice their GPA, and their chances of becoming valedictorian become slimmer.
DC’s come with another issue. OHS charges students $200 for each course. This creates inequity as those who cannot afford to take the classes, a factor they cannot control, cannot boost their GPA as other students do. This means GPA will not truly reflect intelligence of students as some do not have the same access to classes as other students. A very intelli- gent student could be cut from the running for valedictorian if they do not have the funds to take DC courses.
The way GPA is calculated at OHS allows for many ties. It becomes difficult to decipher who the true valedictorian is, and arguments have been created due to the closeness in GPA. This is due to the fact that OHS’s GPA is calculated on a 4.0 scale where all A’s count the same (whether that is a 90 or a 100), all B’s count the same, and so on and so forth. Students with a 90 in a class have the same calculation put into their GPA as students who have a 99. Students who have actually done worse in multiple classes than their competitors have still managed to be valedictorian due to ways they have worked the system. The 4.0 scale allows for a student to scrape by with an A, and still be credited as the smartest student in the grade. The difference between a 90 and a 99, or even a 95, is massive. A five percent difference can demonstrate a large difference in fundamental understanding of a subject. It is not fair for a student with a 99 in a class to earn the same GPA as a student with a 90 because they have shown throughout the course a stronger understanding of the material. To accurately reflect intelligence, a different scale should be used. A 100-point scale would ensure the difference between a 99 and 90 is reflected in students’ GPA’s. Even a 12-point scale where A+’s, A’s, and A-’s are used would more accurately reflect intelligence. The gaps between valedictorian and salutatorian would be more obvious, getting rid of the possibility of ties and arguments surrounding who the valedictorian should be. OHS needs to take a look at their calculating system and re-evaluate.
