Greetings and Salutations Elected Representatives and Senators. My name is Naima and today I would like to discuss stress and how it affects me and my peers. As a student I am of course no stranger to stress, and I would like to point out grades and the systems surrounding them as a cause and intensifier of stress. I believe the grading system in place at my school directly impedes the improvement of the student body.
One example is the matter of the systems formatting, it impedes development through the terms with the rolling grade system that is currently in place, The rolling grade system is a system where each term the grade you have at the end will continue to the next, in comparison with other schools who give every student a fresh start for each term in turn making it easier to bring up the overall grade. This system creates extra distress on top of the already stressful subject of grades, because keeping your grade from last term almost guarantees that you won’t get a 100. Imagine this, at the end of first term you have a 90, that’s an A and next term you slide down only 5 points, with a regular grading system your second term grade would be 95, and your overall grade would be 92 still an A, but under the rolling grade system your second term grade would be an 85, that’s a B+ and your overall grade would have slipped a total of 15 points. Something that would have improved your overall grade in a regular grading structure would actually make your grade worse under the rolling grade system.
This impacts the student body in many ways. I see how some of the people around me stress about little things like getting sick for 3 days, or going on a trip and having to miss a day or two. It makes it hard to enjoy your high school experience if you are constantly trying to get your grade up, and the stress is well warranted because once you lose those points the are pretty much gone. You have to pray that teacher will still take your late assignment, you have to hope that extra credit will be enough to save you, and you have to bite the bullet and tell your parents about your slowly deteriorating grade.
I’m sure some of you are no stranger to kids and probably have a few yourself. You know that to be a successful adult, a good foundation and education is necessary. Well, imagine seeing your kid who has done well their whole school life suddenly drop two letter grades over the first term. You would think that they weren’t trying, that they – and I’m going to quote my own dad on this one – need “to spend less time on that dang phone and with your friends and get those grades up.” Along with the pressure from the school itself to decide what you are going to do in the future, this sets students up for failure. It impacts your relationship with your friends and family and basically feels like you’re isolated on an island while a tornado comes in for a head-on collision, and there’s nothing you or anybody can do about it.
To conclude, I wish for you to take into consideration the mental health of your students and please encourage school districts not to use a rolling grading system and stop the need for statements like this to take place in schools. Thank you for listening and goodbye.
