Liberty Public School District is one of many schools that do not weight GPAs. I believe un-weighted GPA is unfair to students.

First off, if a student is taking AP or Dual credit classes, they most likely have to work their butts off to receive an A in the class. AP and Dual credit classes are hard. The students who challenge themselves and take the classes should be awarded some slack on their GPAs. A person who is taking a lower level class may receive a 4.0 cumulative GPA, while a person who takes harder class may receive a B, which drops their GPA. Why should they be punished for being at a higher learning level that will help them in the future?

If GPAs are un-weighted, why would students want to see what they are capable of doing. Students will begin to realize they do not need to work hard to get a good GPA; all they have to do is go into easy A classes.

However with weighted GPAs it is not a punishment for students who are in lower level classes. A student in a lower level class can still receive their 4.0 GPA because they have earned that grade. They gave it their best to receive those grades, and should be rewarded for it. Just like an honors student should be rewarded for getting As in a college level class with the possibility of getting a GPA higher than a 4.0.

When colleges look at applicants, one of the deciding factors is GPA. If a student has a bad GPA the college will most likely set that applicant’s application aside without looking at the level of classes the student took throughout high school. The applicant may be very qualified for college, but might not get in simply because they had a low GPA due to them taking  college level courses.

Why should people be punished for taking college classes? There needs to be a system that allows students with college classes some leniency when it comes to GPAs, and that system is weighted GPAs. With weighted GPAs, college level high school students will have a little less stress in their lives.