Once a semester, students receive report cards. For some, these report cards affect them greatly, but for others like Chris S ‘14 and Eli K ‘18, they don’t seem to think that they will change much of anything. Although grades are important to them when they perform especially well or not so well, they believe that these grades simply reflect the work students have done thus far. To these students, receiving finalized grades does not inspire them to get rid of bad habits or change much of anything. For Anohka V ‘19, this first report card was very important. She exclaims, “Im really nervous because its my first semester here.” Other seventh graders share her feelings because its their first chance to a make a good impression.
Another factor that affect the feelings of seventh graders are the reactions of parents. Many students strive to get good grades in school in order to please their parents, which is why getting report cards is a very nervous time of year for them. For Eli K ’18, his parents set high standards for him. He explains, “They just want me to get above a five. They want 6s and 7s. Whatever i get, they just want me to do better.” But overall they agree that report cards are fair, accurate reflections of their work and also clearly display what classes they need to improved in.
There are also certain aspects about the report cards that students would wish to improve if they had the chance. Eli K ‘18 suggested that each class provide students with their grade breakdown, he believed that student would be able to understand the reason for their grades better and how they could improve. Chris S ‘14, thought that a helpful addition to the report cards would be the students GPA score. Finally, Anohka V ‘19, thought that the grade system from 1-7 is not very good and that grades should be shown in percentages instead.
The BACC Rag 