At New Ulm High School there is a lot of controversy and mixed feelings on weighted grades. Weighted grades are letter grades that are given a numerical advantage when calculating a grade point average. A pro of weighted grades would be that they reward students for challenging themselves and taking advanced courses. Unfortunately, there are also cons, such as students being discouraged to take some electives and taking the “easy advanced” classes just to boost their GPA.

New Ulm Public High School does not have weighted grades; however, many of the students believe we should. Adabelle Wright, who is a junior at New Ulm High School, believes “students would actually have a reason to try harder. It would benefit the students who are pushing and challenging themselves.” Another junior at NUHS, Iyanna Wieland, said, “It is unfair that students who take AP and college classes are receiving lower GPA’s than students who coast through high school and take the easy way out.” Some of the other students we talked to said, “We do not think our high school should have weighted grades. Some people just aren’t advanced enough to take college and AP classes, so they wouldn’t have an advantage and may find it unfair.”

If New Ulm High School was to get weighted grades, they should only have college and AP courses be weighted. Honors should not be weighted because then kids could just take non-challenging honors classes and get a higher GPA. Many students do believe that weighted grades will benefit more so than hurt students. Those who do not feel advanced enough to take college or AP courses would not be affected by the weighted grades.

Shown in this table is what the grading system would be like if there were weighted classes at NUHS.