As we all know, The Round Table is a digital newspaper, but it hasn’t always been. I have been looking through old paper editions of the paper.  Today we will look back on an edition from 1985.

An article that really stands out from this paper is “Weighting of grades begins for Class of ‘89.” The article describes a meeting in 1985 where the Board of Education adopted the policy of weighted grades in hope of making “more students encouraged to take the rigorous courses.” As a senior applying to colleges, I can say that now in 2016, my weighted grade point average makes me look much better than my unweighted. It was also what motivated me to move into more AP classes as a junior. Without these classes being “weighted more,” I’m not so sure I would have done the extra work and challenged myself as much.  

However, when this idea was proposed back in ’85 some people had issues with it. Mr. Michael Krein, who taught AP chemistry,  was quoted saying that, “The archaic weighting system does not clarify grades enough. Instead we should have 12 point grading system of pluses and minuses. The students [at SHS] are getting punished for our current system. A student with a 79.7  receives a B and therefore, a 4.0 with weighted grades, while someone with an average of 79.4 gets a C and therefore a weighted 3.0.”

Are we happy that the Board of Education went through with this decision for weighted grades? If  you could go back in time would you have been in favor of this decision?

Check back soon as another article from the past will be brought back to modern times.