Buying Better Grades: Yes or No
November 11, 2009 by Eliza Ferree
Filed under Parenting
Rosewood Middle School of Goldsboro North Carolina is giving out grades for money. The principal believes all is fair in this little game as it benefits the children.
IMG: Sxc.hu
Exactly what benefits the children you may ask? Well, apparently they are trying to raise money for the school to buy digital cameras and a high tech blackboard for the classrooms.
The principal decided after years of trying the “traditional selling chocolate bar method” to try something new. She actually argued that getting two test grades higher would not change a grade for a child. In other words if a child had a c average it would stay that way. But as we all know, it just takes a high test score to improve a GPA.
If your child goes to Rosewood Middle School and finds they’d like to improve their grade here is how it works:
The school will sell 20 test points to students in exchange for a $20-dollar donation.
Students can add 10 extra points to each of two tests of their choosing. The extra points could take a student from a “B” to an “A” on a test or from a failing grade to a passing grade.
So, would you allow your child to improve their grades in order to help the school out? How will you later teach your child it is not a good thing to do this? I mean the reality is they are cheating, paying for a higher grade and giving money to the school to help out a cause. Tough one isn’t it?
Appalling! I was actually relieved to see (when I read the linked article) that they decided not to move forward with the plan. But the fact that this was even considered is appalling. Once we start buying our kids grades, then what next? Might as well buy them a degree, a job. This act would render grades meaningless. Does a child need to improve if they are consistently getting As even if the As cost a lot of $$? Or will the child now be responsible for balancing grades and the cost of the grade? “How do I get an A and still have enough money to buy that latest gizmo? Hmmm, I’ll settle for a C this time…maybe next time I’ll try for an A…maybe I should ask for an increase in budget?”
Hope none of them are thinking about becoming brain surgeons–collecting money and adding bonus points to grades is ethically incorrect. So, let’s follow the same suit in Medical Schools and Law Schools. How much would $1,000 get someone on a test score? This situation will become a slippery slope with these children, thinking $$ can buy them anything–even at the risk of personal integrity.