Madison has taken a grand step forward in regards to its grading scale, as I’m sure most students have noticed. In the hopes of making grading more equitable for students, Madison has slowly been replacing the old 100-point grading scale with a new 4.0 grading scale. The transition is supposed to be fully implemented by the start of the 2020-21 school year, but for now all we have is a taste of what the future will be like. The future, to me at least, is looking pretty good.

The 4.0 grading scale can only improve people’s grades. This scale makes individual grades the highest they can possibly be while still falling into the originally assigned letter grade. In other words, if you got a 93% on a test, the 4.0 grading scale looks at it and says, “What’s this? I’ve never heard of a 93%” and *poof* it’s a 100%.  So if you got an 87% on an assignment, which is a B+, the 4.0 scale changes it to a 3.3, the equivalent of an 89%.

However, many people actually believe that the 100-point scale is preferable, especially when it comes to accuracy and simplicity. In terms of accuracy, it lets you see exactly where you are without the cushion of the 4.0 scale. As said earlier, the 4.0 grading scale helps your grade, but it won’t give you accurate feedback. In terms of simplicity, looking at the 100 point scale makes it easier for you to understand exactly where you are and what you need to do to improve your grades. This is especially true since most of us are used to the 100 point grading scale.

In the end, though, your opinion doesn’t really matter. The transition to this system has already begun, and it’s official that the whole school will be using it by the next school year. However, if any reader is really (and I stress really) emotionally invested in this issue they can take it up with the school board. For now, I think that we should get used to the system and learn to love it since we will probably be using it for a while.