Kaylee Rucker English 101 Editorial Essay September 26, 2016 Dual Credit Courses Can being hard working and having a desire to be challenged intellectually actually hurt a student? The typical answer to that would be no; however, when we look into how class rank and GPA are determined we might think differently. When high school students enroll in a dual credit class, they pay money to take the class for college credit as well as high school credit. These classes are at a higher level of difficulty than the other classes because they’re taught at the college level with a college syllabus. I believe the Chillicothe School District should make dual credit classes weighted in the high school system. Dual credit classes should be weighted because that will reward students for their hard work, justify the cost of the class, and encourage students to take these classes.
First of all, it’s not fair to the students who take dual credit classes, work harder than some others, and have the same or lower GPA than the students who take only high school level classes. The amount of effort that goes into a college level course, as well as the workload, is much higher than is required in a high school level course. Therefore, why should the grades in the different levels of classes be equal when figuring GPA? The students don’t want to take a class that could potentially hurt them.
Also, the students have to pay money to take the dual credit classes, so the students should get more in return from those classes than they would in a normal high school level class. Students are not allowed to use their A+ scholarship while still in high school. Why should students feel like they should pay hundreds or thousands of dollars on dual credit classes when they could potentially get them for free after they graduate? However, if the grades are weighted then that could make the expense of taking the class in high school worth it. That could help encourage students to challenge themselves and be better prepared for college if they don’t have to worry about losing scholarships.
Furthermore, a number of students may be discouraged from taking dual credit courses in fear that their GPA and class rank will drop. Dual credit courses are typically taught at a much higher level than normal high school classes. This means that even high performing students are likely to not get as high of grades as they usually do because of the extensive workload. That student’s GPA could then be lower than the GPA of another student who only takes the lower level classes. When it comes time to apply for scholarships, the students who takes college courses could be out of the running for some scholarships because their class rank has dropped below the students who don’t take challenging courses.
Dual credit classes can be very helpful to students if they’re weighted because that will reward students for hard work, justify cost of the course, and eliminate change in class rank. A student who wants to excel in academics at a higher level should be rewarded, not punished. Therefore, the Chillicothe School District should weight the dual credit courses at the high school.