NOAH ABRAMS STAFF WRITER

Most seniors or juniors wouldn’t ask each other in the hallways “What did you get on your SAT?”  This would be an unlikely occurrence, especially at ASL, as the senior class traditionally keeps these scores private. Academic grades are just as important and yet they are discussed so much more.

Similar to the unofficial senior motto “don’t ask, don’t tell,” in regards to college applications, students throughout the High School shouldn’t be sharing their academic grades in the same way they don’t share their standardized test scores.

The sharing of GPAs and grades is consistently in the conversation loop in the High School, but it has come to a point where these grades are frequently being talked about at the wrong times and shared when they should not be.

One particular incident frustrated me just after quarter grades were posted. Several students were frantically calculating their GPAs, and shouting out “3.8.” This is not right, especially doing it in the middle of a class.

If you’re a student on academic probation who is trying to improve from one letter grade to another, it’s probably not the best thing to be hearing.

If sophomore students are overly concerned and sharing their first quarter grades, things have gone too far.

By the time they are seniors things will be out of control. Also, it’s not entirely necessary to keep your straight A+ report card up on your computer for the entire 80 minutes. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t casually chat about your grades with close friends in appropriate situations, but the aggravating “What did you get?” is harmful to the happiness of the entire community. This will slowly cause grades to become an even more competitive issue between students rather than an individual concern.

Before tests are being returned teachers repeatedly say, “Your grade is your grade, keep it to yourself.” Of course students entirely disregard this request and immediately start saying things like “I did terrible – I got a 95.” There are no concrete rules or policies about sharing grades because there shouldn’t be. At the same time it’s up to us as individuals to understand that some students don’t appreciate being asked their GPA, no matter if it is a 4.0 or a 2.0.

Grades are an important piece of our academic life, we should know them, and to an extent be driven by them, but we need to know the correct time when they should be discussed and shared in and out of a school setting.

noah_abrams@asl.org