The fact that the North Allegheny administration is considering removing weighted grades and adjusting the start time to reduce school-induced stress is based in fantasy. It is an attempt to remedy student stress by altering aspects that have no direct bearing on stress in the first place.

Let me state this in the most common vernacular possible: students are stressed out because of homework load. North Allegheny’s infatuation with creating an environment in which competition is the focal point of academic life is detrimental to students.

No, it is not because of start times or weighted classes. If they actually want to decrease the stress levels of students, they should instill some sort of policy that emphasizes cutting back on assigned workloads outside of class. Our sense of feeling overwhelmed stems from the high standards everyone at NA is held to and the rigorous coursework that drowns us each night. While I commend the district administration for looking to reduce stress, they are searching for a solution in the completely wrong place.

Let’s begin with start time. I am not sleep-deprived because I wake up too early. I am sleep-deprived because I stay up until about one in the morning, or later, doing homework many nights. Were start times pushed back, students would have to finish their extra-curricular activities later, arrive home later, eat dinner later, and then begin their homework. Later. Not to mention the fact that many students would have trouble maintaining jobs or fulfilling other obligations on time.

More important is grade weighting. It’s a mistaken belief that weighted AP and Honors classes attract students only because of their weight — that students don’t take these courses for any reason other than the allure of a weighted GPA.

Most students walk into Honors or AP classes fully aware of what they are about to experience. Every high-level class at NA is notorious for being demanding, and just about every student in one of these Honors or AP classes is aware of the level of difficulty. Not every student signs up to take these classes because it will make their GPA look fancy and add more academic bling to their resume. Although added grade weight is a nice incentive, many students choose to take these classes because they are motivated to learn at a deeper level or challenge themselves at a higher level. The fact that the administration is operating under the assumption that students pick these courses due to their weighted grades is actually quite insulting.

I do not speak for everyone, but I do represent a fair amount of the student body when I say that I was brought up in a family that always emphasizes work ethic. I do not take AP and Honors courses because of their weighting. I take them because I have an academic standard that I need to hold myself to, not to mention the fact that I am honestly inspired by some of these courses. It is much more difficult to do well in these classes, and the weighting helps to counter-balance that reality.

It may seem contradictory that I support weighted grades for rigorous courses and at the same time believe that the North Allegheny Administration should limit the amount of homework given. However, the fact of the matter is that student stress results from unduly heavy workloads. North Allegheny encourages a hyper-competitive atmosphere complete with students in all ranges of college-preparatory classes (Academic, Honors, and AP) stressing about the assignments given to them. The best and most effective way to combat this stress is to cut the amount of outside work given. This would also enable students to focus better while in the classroom and simultaneously give students more time outside of the classroom to review aspects of subjects that would genuinely benefit them.

Everyone has their own strengths, and it definitely doesn’t have to be school. Nevertheless, if students choose to push themselves to take harder classes, they deserve that weighted grade because they earned it. Weighted GPAs are important because they allow students to make lower grades in harder classes without facing serious consequences. For example, earning a B in an AP class is not a detriment to a student’s GPA, as it is roughly equivalent to earning an A in an academic course. Were this to be taken away, it’s likely that most students’ GPAs wouldn’t reflect the amount of work they put into school.

Moreover, although colleges do strip the weights of applicants’ GPAs and reweigh them to their own scales, they also usually look at grades within the context of their school. Thus, this proposed new system would sabotage a lot of hard working individuals.

Already a petition has been started by one of North Allegheny’s own students to protect our right to keep our GPAs weighted. It has been in circulation for only four days and already has over 160 signatures.

Yes, life isn’t fair, but an administration claiming to work in our best interest shouldn’t be taking away something that keeps our academic life equitable. To truly make a change in reducing students’ stress, the North Allegheny administration must first acknowledge that our stress is primarily derived from an overbearing homework load and then do something to minimize it.