The “F” Grade Getting the Ex?

In a recent news report, school officials at West Potomac High School, located in Alexandria, Virginia, opted to drop the traditional “F” letter grade. Instead students who do not do well will be given an “I” for incomplete. This will allow them to learn the lesson over and replace the ‘Incomplete’ grade with a more promising letter grade be it an “A”, “B”, “C”, or “D”. The controversy surfacing around this new policy has been an option for colleges in New York for a while now. At The City College of New York, our grade policy consists of the tradition A-F rubric. However, we, as students, have been given a few exceptions. Entwined into our “F” grade policy the following apply:

1) “F” grade policy: If a student gets an “F” in a course, it will not be counted in their overall GPA if the course is taken over and the student receives a “C” or better.

2) “Incomplete” policy: Like West Potomac High School, this grade will give CCNY students a chance to retract the mistake they made in any class. This grade gives them ten weeks into the following semester to redeem themselves.

3)  “W” grade: As explained in previous CCNY article, The Big W: How to Know When to Withdraw, students opt to withdraw from a class if they know they are bound to get an unwanted grade in it. This grade holds fewer consequences than an “F” grade because it does not affect your GPA.

4) “WU” grade: This grade stands for Withdraw Unofficially. If the student refuses to attend class, the professor will take it that the student withdrew from the class without getting the formal documents from Registrar. This grade has the same consequences as an F grade because it will affect the cumulative GPA if the class is not retaken.

During a time when we have all of these “failure grading options”, the “F” grade policy would not hurt to be dropped. If the “F” grade policy was dropped, college students would not have the pressure that exists now. The fear that goes along with getting a failure, does not mesh well with the average stressed out college student. What we fail to realize is that there are other ways to dodge an “F” grade (as shown above).

Dropping the “F” grade policy would also lessen the chaos students have when it comes to getting their final grades. Because there are so many options, dropping the “F” grade would make explanation lighter on registrar when students go to them for advice.

West Potomac High School has decided to give their students the chance to redeem themselves. However, colleges across the nation already do this. If the dropping of this grade policy does have an effect on high school students, it’ll be the same effect it has on present college students.