If a craftsman builds 60% of a chair and says it's finished, will someone be able to sit in it? And doesn’t this analogy apply to one’s grades and their learning as well? This is the vital question we face at Boothbay Region High School. Truthfully, 60% of anything is insufficient for use. And the solution? Raise the grade needed to complete a class to 70. As a matter of fact, three different students have written similar letters to the editor concerning this subject: Maren Whitney (in 2020) and Will Perkins (in 2019) both advocated for the minimum passing grade to be raised from a 60 to a 70. 

I am currently enrolled in the A.P. Language & Composition course, and part of this course is to investigate a particular issue each student has with current school policy (or policies). According to a survey I sent out to my fellow BRHS students, 59.5% of the 82 respondents believe that a 60 is an inadequate passing grade. When asked if they believed student effort would increase if the minimum passing grade was raised, 34.5% replied that student effort would increase. Similarly, 47.6% of the respondents replied that they believed students would learn more if this minimum was raised. And, upon being asked what minimum grades would be reasonable minimums, 51.2% replied that they found a 65 or higher a reasonable passing minimum.

One student’s reply to this survey reads: “...I think a c is a much more reasonable lowest passing grade than a 60,” while a separate student stated “I think that 60% is too low, but some harder classes with harsh grading teachers can lead to lower grades, so I think that somewhere around 70% would be adequate.”

Mr. Michael Cherry, an English teacher at BRHS upon being asked whether he believed a 60 was adequate, said “...I don't think a 60 is a representation of an adequate acquisition of knowledge and learning in a class. A 70 is probably the lowest score I would consider as truly illustrating that one is meeting the ‘adequate’ level.” Mr. Cherry also expressed his belief that “...students would largely be motivated to reach the new bare minimum line … if a new line was indeed set[,]” while also acknowledging that a few students may find themselves discouraged by a higher minimum.

Mr. James Wilkins, the college and career advisor at BRHS, attested similarly. “For some,” he stated, “… life experiences and stressors may motivate a student to push harder and raise their own standards[,]” implying an increased minimum could have the potential to encourage students to strive for success. Mr. Wilkins, who returned to college after a brief period of working, stated that once he found a reason to return, “[m]y grades took off and I ended up graduating Summa Cum Laude - a big difference from my high school work[,]” indicative of the fact that when students are given motivation, they can succeed.

There is, of course, the argument that if the minimum passing grade is raised to 70, then students who participate in extracurricular activities will struggle to complete their work on time. Mr. Wilkins, however, asserts that “[e]xtracurriculars are important, but I believe students need to step it up academically. Being tired and busy with sports schedules are not a good excuse for slacking off your studies[,]” meaning that–as a professional stated–extracurricular activities are not valid justifications for falling behind in one’s studies and does not justify an objection to raising the minimum to 70.

Contrastingly, however, the principal of BRHS, Dr. Tricia Campbell, expressed her opinion when asked that “… raising the bar to a 70% can dramatically increase student drop-out rates and course failures … adding a higher barrier to entry for earning basic high school credit often has the unintended consequence of causing struggling students to shut down entirely rather than push harder.” She also notes that BRHS uses the widely-used 10-point grading system, and also expressed a concern that BRHS students could be at a disadvantage if the grading scales changed. However, my intention is not to adjust the grading scale in such a way that the new D is a 70; my intention is to make the passing grade go up from a D (60) to a C (70). Nearby high school Medomak Valley High School, however, considers a 70 as passing; any work below that is “unsatisfactory,” (MVHS Student Handbook)Thus, if we are to trust a nearby, accredited high school, then a 70 is a sufficient grade for passing, despite the fear of low graduation rates.

In the end, one solution is clear: raise the minimum from 60 to 70.