Wake County recently announced that they will be implementing a new ten-point grading scale in effect for the class of 2019. Students in Wake County have been pleading for a new grading scale for a long time, so naturally many current high school students are upset that they will not benefit from this new wonderful system. Switching to a ten point grading scale brought up a lot of problems that have yet to be discussed. There are a lot of questions students have regarding the new ten point scale, and PCNN reporters gathered opinions and concerns on the issue.

We interviewed junior class president Baquir Yusuf to get his opinion on the new grading scale. Baquir pointed out that the new grading scale will “make it easier – but isn’t beneficial for everyone.” Many students agree with this as well. Senior David Lu’s advice to anyone who is upset over the new grading scale is to simply “get over it.” David said that, “the new grading scale doesn’t affect him so he doesn’t see why anyone should have a problem with it.” We gave Baquir a situation where a current Panther Creek student would be in the same class as an incoming freshman and both students hypothetically got a 90% on a test. With the new grading scale the freshman would get an A and the other student would get a B. Yusuf responded with, “it shouldn’t be only the freshman who are benefiting from the scale; make it so that everyone is operating on the ten-point grading scale.”

An article on the News and Observer took notice to the situation and said that it is up for discussion whether or not Wake County will implement the new grading scale to all students. According to the the News and Observer, WCPSS changed the grading scale to better prepare high schoolers for college, since most colleges operate on a ten point grading scale.

Yusuf also said, “the scale is basically discouraging students to take AP and Honors [classes].” Many students take advanced classes because it benefits to their GPA and looks better when applying to college. But now with the new grading scale, advanced classes will only count as half the credit than what they were before. Sophomore Viraj Garewal said that “another issue with the new scale is that honors and AP level classes will not affect a student’s GPA as much as it would on the seven-point scale.”  So is it still worth it to take AP and honors classes and should colleges take into consideration the scale in which a student was graded on. With the new grading scale where a 90 would be an A compared to the current 93. Does this mean a student who got straight A’s on a seven-point grading scale worked harder than someone who got straight A’s on a ten point grading scale?

Wake County will carry out the new grading scale starting with the 2015 freshman. After conducting a survey we found out that 100% (out of fifty-six people) are opposed to the new grading scale. Most of the negativity towards it is from the fact that only the freshman will benefit from it; almost everyone thinks that the new grading scale is unfair. Of course though you can’t please everyone; Wake County still has a lot to discuss and questions to answer.