With hard work at CHS comes rewards – or does it?

Published: Sunday, December 13, 2009

AP ENGLISH SUMMER WORK: Read “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “Alias Grace” by Margaret Atwood, “The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver, “On Writing by Stephen King” and “The Diagnosis” by Alan Lightman, and take notes on all.

Analyze three poems – answer 30 questions for each.

Be prepared for a test and an in-class essay on the first day.

HONORS SENIOR ENGLISH SUMMER WORK: None! Enjoy the beach!

At Campbell High School, it’s hard not to notice the difference in the amount and difficulty of the work assigned in Advanced Placement classes compared with that in honors classes.

“AP classes take a lot out of you,” senior Ashley Prindle said. “I’m in AP English and U.S. history, and there’s never a night that I’m not crammed with homework. Not to mention the summer work – it took forever!”

It isn’t unusual at any school for AP classes to be strenuous, because they’re supposed to parallel freshman college courses. The strange thing at Campbell is that they’re given the same weight on the grading scale as honors classes.

At most schools, an A+ in a regular class wouldn’t carry as much weight on a GPA scale as an A+ in an honors class, and a perfect grade in an AP class would receive even more credit. At Campbell, however, honors and AP classes add only an extra .33 to a student’s overall GPA – not amounting to much in the long run.

Those who agree with the current policy argue that a student who can’t handle the rigorous course load an AP class entails shouldn’t be punished. Some say the opportunity to receive college credit in an AP class is reward enough and no further credit should be given for their hard work.

“I don’t think they should change the grading scale, at least not this year,” senior James Amadio said. “I might have taken AP classes if I had known that they were going to be given more credit.”

On Dec. 2, the student School Board representatives, senior Alyson Stapleton and sophomore Cameron Branco, brought forward a plan to the board to change the grading system.

“Not only do we want the grading scale to be changed, we want it done this year,” Stapleton said during the meeting. “It is not fair that students have worked hard in AP classes and do not get credit for their academic endeavors.”

The representatives explained to the board that nowhere in the student policy handbook or the course catalog did it say honors and AP classes received the same weight. Therefore, many assumed they were getting more credit for taking an AP class.

The School Board was interested in the proposal, but referred it to the administration for further study.

Although change may not be seen this year, many Campbell students will continue pushing for a new grading scale.

“If you do more work, you deserve more credit,” senior Amanda Curran said. “I wasted my whole summer solving calculus equations – I’d say that deserves a huge award!”

Rebecca Howard is a senior at Campbell High School in Litchfield.