“Is there anything I can do to bring up my grade?”
“Is there any extra credit I can do to pass this class?”
“How many points are you offering for that extra credit assignment?”
These questions may be an example of some questions students ask during many classes. The issue is extra credit, which may or may not be offered by teachers. There are many teachers who give extra credit away like free candy, while others offer a limited amount (or none at all). There truly seems to be no middle ground in the battle for extra credit.
Much debate goes into the whole “extra credit” system and whether or not it is valuable for students to have this opportunity. Some teachers see extra credit as a last-ditch opportunity to turn some student’s grades (and GPAs) around. Others view extra credit as a useless tool that just raises a student’s grade instead of actually teaching the student. They could argue that students who do easy extra credit assignments and earn a higher grade are being cheated of their education. They are also being taught that it is more essential to earn high grades than to gain academic accomplishment.
What students need to realize and accept is that extra credit is not a “one-size-fits-all” grade. Teachers could argue that offering extra credit points for a completed assignment teaches students that quality doesn’t matter. It does teach that if you do the work then you’ll get the points; it doesn’t matter how much time and effort students put into an assignment, just so long as it is finished.
We believe there should be a school-wide extra credit policy, one that will stabilize the handing-out of extra credit. It isn’t fair for some students to gain 50 extra credit points by completing a few easy assignments while other students are offered five extra credit points, at the most, for writing a four-page paper.
There needs to be some evenness to this school’s extra credit policy. Balance is key to maintaining steady extra credit standards. Furthermore, extra credit should not just be given out all willy-nilly. Extra credit assignments should be challenging and should help students utilize what they have learned throughout the year.
Extra credit is not a stupid device, either. If students truly care about their grades and GPAs, they would be jumping all over any extra credit assignments they could get.
Everyone deserves a second chance to improve their grades, even if they didn’t give it their all the first time. These students just need to understand that these extra assignments will hopefully be challenging and take some time and effort. After all, they don’t call it extra credit for nothing.
- Staff Editorial
Story originally published in March 12, 2010 issue of the Viking Longboat.