High School Grade Inflation: I AM SO SICK OF IT.

Applying to College
101

<p>I have recieved several PM's from posters who want to get out of the debate, but support my position, and I truly appreciate it. </p>

<p>I am not trying to make myself look "smarter" than anyone else, or have my GPA praised by strangers. I already graduated; what is the point? And even when I was still in school, applying to colleges, I didn't post my stats because I know that since no one here knows me in person, their opinion of my 3.6 as a good or bad GPA has no bearing on my life or self-perception. </p>

<p>It seems no matter how I argue, students and parents who are in support of their grade inflating public schools will never see a private schooler's point of view. It's too bad everyone can't experience a day or two in the others shoes, because it might change some opinions. I spent a day freshman year testing out the public school I would go to because I was so overwhelmed with work, and sorry, it was horrible. There was absolutely no discipline or respect for authority, the teacher didn't care if people were participating or sleeping, kids would shout across the classroom, there were gang members and students loitering everywhere during class periods, food and garbage flying everywhere during lunch, and very few students seemed to be engaged in the material. Don't give me the, "this is the real world!" thing, because I don't believe it is. Behavior these students were exhibiting was so unacceptable that is is obvious they would end up as losers in life with no job or knowledge of how to obey rules. I compare this to my own experience in high school: students raising their hands when they wish to speak, everyone in the room participating in discussion, an absolutely SILENT hallway during class periods (no loitering), and students actually remembering that the teacher is an authority figure and to not mouth off whenever he or she disagrees, and respect for the actual building by NOT throwing food, and picking up one's own garbage. Any infraction at the public school resulted in nothing, or if lucky, a stern word from the teacher, where at my school the slightest breaking of the rules resulted in immediate detention. Most public magnets, IB's, and privates seem to know how to keep order, as does the typical suburban public. This city public was in absolute MAYHEM. I figured I'd rather put up with severe grading if it meant not having to deal with the disgusting conditions and unbelievable behavior of the students. </p>

<p>I know I would have had a 4.0 at the public school in my neighborhood. Turning in homework was considering amazing. So that, in conjunction with my ACT and SAT's, might have gotten me into my ED school...where I was rejected from. </p>

<p>Could you public school people please stop telling us private schoolers we are snobby, whiney, etc? We're not. Maybe you just don't want to admit that perhaps your GPA is fake...almost as fake as the people who supposedly attend private schools.</p>

102

<p>"Could you public school people please stop telling us private schoolers we are snobby, whiney, etc? We're not"
but you just were!</p>

103

<p>My younger son worked his a** off last year in a public high school to get A's. But I do agree with you, sort of. I talked to a parent from another city who moved because his middle school daughter had one or two days of homework the entire school year. </p>

<p>I think you are overgeneralizing about public schools, and your foes are overgeneralizing about private schools.</p>

104

<p>My daughter goes to an average public high school (mediocre by CC standards) and approximately 5% of her class earn all A's in a given marking period, less than that for the whole year. Not every public school has grade inflation. They also use a sliding scale for GPA, so in order to get a 4.0, a student would have to have earned a 100% in each class, which just doesn't happen. No one ever graduates with a 4.0 unweighted average.</p>

105

<p>Citygal, if you had gone to a public school like mine, your ACT/SAT scores probably wouldn't have been as nearly as high...and your GPA would have been similar just on a different scale. Hell, my unweighted GPA was a whole .3 lower than what it should have been on their scale (I made all mid to high As but had a 3.3333) because the school doesn't find a mistake in the program they use important enough to fix. </p>

<p>The only 'ifs' that really makes sense in these circumstances is the ifs from kids who missed out on opportunities.</p>

106

<p>This thread seems to be turning into a "public vs private school" debate.</p>

107

<p>I think citygirl55 is just whining because she didn't get into her ED school, presumably because of her low GPA. Poor baby. She still, amazingly enough, has the audacity to say that she could get a 4.0 easily at the public school like its some dumping ground? Sounds like a typical private school snob to me.</p>

<p>P.S. I hope I didn't offend anyone.</p>

108

<p>It didn't have to "turn into" a public vs. private. She made it one with her little public school comment on her first post! There was no need to belittle the accomplishments of her "friends" in public schools. There are plenty of crappy, grade inflated private schools out there as well, you know.</p>

109

<p>I usually have no problem with people who go to private schools, but I hate it when the think they're superior than the rest of the world because they pay to go get an education. </p>

<p>refering back to the point of the thread,it happens to all us of, I would love to have a 4.0 but I decided that I'd rather take IB classes and earn lower grades, instead of taking regular classes, where they watch movies and write book reports. Would I have a 4.0, I don't know but I would have a whole lot higher gpa.</p>

110

<p>All I have to say is three letters: SAT</p>

<p>Why are you people complaining about it anyway... Based on SAT scores colleges can determine how hard the grading obviously was.</p>

111

<p>
[quote]
I know I would have had a 4.0 at the public school in my neighborhood. Turning in homework was considering amazing. So that, in conjunction with my ACT and SAT's, might have gotten me into my ED school...where I was rejected from.

[/quote]

Going to your local public high school would probably have decreased your chances of getting into your dream college (assuming that school offers a poor education, that is). I live in a state with one of the poorest education systems in the country, so the newspaper makes a really big deal out of people who get accepted into a very selective college. In those articles, most of the kids went to the competitive high schools with grade deflation (and there is only a small handful of them, all are public by the way); I very rarely come across a kid who went to a school with a poor education and rampant grade inflation (and the majority of schools in the state are like that). Adcoms know your high school's reputation, and they do know that 3.6 at one school is sometimes worth more than a 4.0 at another. If you went to a school with grade inflation and got a 4.0, it would be hard for adcoms to determine whether or not you actually deserved it. Also, many of these grade inflating schools offer limited numbers of AP classes, if any, so that's another way you might get screwed up in the admissions process at competitive colleges.</p>

<p>It's been more than a half year since ED decisions came out, and it's summer. Just be happy and excited about whatever college you'll be attending this fall.</p>

112

<p>LOL! I love how this thread has gotten so off topic...</p>

<p>On a side note, I think it might be interesting to point out the two different kinds of grade inflation:</p>

<ol>
<li>The kind where people give out easy grades.</li>
</ol>

<p>vs.</p>

<ol>
<li>The kind where AP/IB classes give you 5's and everyone can get a 4.7 GPA now.</li>
</ol>

<p>Because at my school the "problem" is number 2. Kids think it's unfair that us kids with 6 IB classes have insane GPA's and will become valedictorians. So the idiot teachers and faculty chose the V's based off of unweighted GPA. Which is of course not fair cause it's a lot easier to get an A in Cooking 1 then to get an A in IB Physics. And personally anyone who has suffered through the IB program deserves their so called "inflated grades".</p>

<p>Anyone have any opinions on the 2nd problem? Cause that is a WAY more prominent issue then the occasional high school teacher who lets Johnny Doesn't Do Work get an A.</p>

<p>I mean, really.</p>

113

<p>That's true. But colleges don't just use GPA. They also pitch in what type of classes taken (Honors, AP, IB, college-prep, etc), what EC's you have, and how much effort you contribute to the community (volunteer service, etc.)</p>

<p>SAT and ACT play a factor in college admissions as well. </p>

<p>As for me, I have a 3.7 GPA unweighted, and I'm going into junior year. Sure, it's not a perfect 4.0 GPA, but I worked hard to get this GPA. Sure, there are times when I took a test while sick, or I forgot to finish off a homework assignment or something. That's why I don't have a perfect Valedictorian GPA.</p>

<p>Yet, I volunteer at the hospital, I take care of my siblings, I'm a peer tutor at the school, and I volunteer at other various places (Relay for Life, the Library, etc.) </p>

<p>Doesn't all that count as well in college admissions?
~<em>~</em>~
btw, there IS inflation/deflation in schools, but there's no point in arguing over it. What is that going to help? Is isn't going to solve anything, is it?</p>

<p>What should be done is for someone to become a member of the school board or department of education, and -set- some standards for the schools, both public and private alike.</p>

114

<p>Why do schools have multiple Vals? My school does it plain and simple 1st ranked is Val and 2nd ranked is Sal...doesn't matter how close the GPAs are.</p>

115

<p>lindsey831: "All I have to say is three letters: SAT
Why are you people complaining about it anyway... Based on SAT scores colleges can determine how hard the grading obviously was"</p>

<p>NOT TRUE, PREP SCHOOLS DON'T SPEND THE PERIODS GOING OVER TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES. THAT IS WHY COLLEGES DON'T VALUE SAT'S 1/2 AS MUCH AS YOU THINK THEY DO. </p>

<p>I AGREE WITH CITYGAL... AND IT IS A SHAME THAT ALL OF YOU ARE TAKING THE EASY WAY OUT AND LABELING HER A WHINING SNOBB INSTEAD OF LISTENING TO HER ARGUMENTS. IT SEEMS AS IF US PREP SCHOOLERS ARE THE UNITED STATES, NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, WHAT WE SAY, HOW WE ACT, SOME COUNTRIES ARE JUST ALWAYS GOING TO HATE US. LISTEN, I'VE SPENT MANY MORE YEARS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM THAN PRIVATE, BUT IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS AND I'LL SAY IT ONCE MORE</p>

<p>YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR</p>

<p>A WASTE OF 40K TO SOME PEOPLE ... A BARGAIN TO OTHERS.... IT IS NOT THAT PREP SCHOOLS ARE IN A BUBBLE WHILE PUBLIC SCHOOLERS ARE LIVING IN THE 'REAL WORLD'. ...... MAYBE IF WORKING AT MCDONALDS IS THE REAL WORLD. BUT IF THE REAL WORLD IS A REAL JOB ...ANY REAL JOB...AT ANY COMPANY....WHICH HIGH SCHOOLER WILL BE BETTER PREPARED FOR THIS REAL WORLD??</p>

<p>THERE IS A REASON THAT AT THE ELITE SCHOOLS, PEOPLE COMING FROM A PRIVATE SCHOOL ARE AT A DISPROPORTIANTELY GREATER PERCENTAGE COMPARED TO THE PERCENT OF PUBLIC/PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOLS IN AMERICA.</p>

116

<p>My son had no test taking strategies taught to him in public school. </p>

<p>For most of us it's either private school or college, but not both, due to the money involved. Good students succeed in almost any school, public or private.</p>

117

<p>I have a valid question for Citygal: What do you consider the "standard"? How can YOU decide whether or not someone deserves an A in a class? You're saying that grades are inflated, but where do you consider the line to be drawn so that a grade is deflated, inflated, or deserved? Isn't it all relative? Maybe someone is a really bad test-taker, but tries so hard, does all homework, does well on reports, but a teacher makes tests worth 60% of the overall grade. Is it fair to bump their grade slightly, or do you think they get what they get? If they get a few extra points, is the grade now inflated?</p>

118

<p>namtrag ... of course not, schools don't teach test-taking strategies ...meaning that just because you do well in school, public or private, doesn't mean that you should get a 2300 on the SAT. An SAT score does not show that you have inflated/deflated grades.</p>

119

<p>NOT TRUE, PREP SCHOOLS DON'T SPEND THE PERIODS GOING OVER TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES</p>

<p>I think I took you to mean, prep schools don't, but public schools do.
Sorry if I misunderstood.</p>

120

<p>Actually, some schools do. We had a SAT class during a 30 minute tutorial period in an effort to get more students into college (I didn't bother with it, but I heard from most it was pretty dumbed down). </p>

<p>Eh, and then the stuff with our state standardized test. There was a <em>ton</em> of crap we had to do with it over the years (most would call it teaching to the test). My state has "TEK" skills/information that all teachers must follow...even EC teachers. I don't know how much other schools do with them, but mine takes them far too seriously.</p>

<p>Anyway, it really varies school to school what is taught in regards to test taking.</p>