Every week the editorial board reflects on a current issue in Our View. The position taken does not reflect the opinions of everyone on the Hilltop Views staff. 

Although the majority of universities across the nation use a plus/minus grading system, it is not time for St. Edward’s University to use one. 

As a liberal university, St. Edward’s promotes values that the new grading system will contradict. 

The new system will place even more emphasis on grades, which do not always accurately measure  quality and effort. 

Oftentimes, grades only measure how well students can follow rubrics.

More emphasis on grades will also cause students to focus on their grades over their learning, an aspect of higher-level education that frustrates both students and professors. 

More grade emphasis means more pressure, especially for over-achievers who are already hard on themselves. 

Universities already frighten students with demands for obtaining a certain GPA. Some students rely on their GPAs to qualify them for financial aid. 

Some students are still monitored by parents and guardians paying for their education. Parents may not understand why a 3.0 GPA was suddenly a 2.8. 

The plus/minus grading system will make students more competitive with each other. Students already battle for internships, scholarships and admission to graduate schools.

Students who are competing to get into medical, law or graduate schools could be severely disadvantaged. 

GPA is only one line of a resume, but that one line is comparative to all of the activities that fill the rest of the resume. The difference between a 3.8 and a 4.0 is a big one.

If the plus/minus grading system is instituted, people will be afraid to take on extracurricular activities and internships. Those who can’t afford school without external jobs will suffer from more anxiety.

Society already enforces the competition between employees for jobs. Bringing intense competition between college-aged students to compete in not just one area (like in a job), but in every class and activity. 

Students need to be able to transition between competitive and calm. Forcing GPA to be the most important part of a student’s life is duct taping the “ON” button for competitiveness and stress.

St. Edward’s possible change to a plus/minus grading system is not being publicized as much as it needs to be. Many students are unaware that the system may change. 

The university needs to make their choice more public so that all students can participate in the decision whether or not to institute the new system, rather than just the Student Government Association. 

SGA should not make a decision on it either. It needs to consider the opinions of all students, not just the opinion of disgruntled senators. This would make SGA truly representative of the student body.

Another troubling aspect to the grading system is that there has been little consideration for a grandfather policy, where students who began with the old grading system can use it until they graduate. 

The university wants to switch everyone to the system immediately. This may complicate student applications for graduate school and employment opportunities. 

Students will have to explain the switch to each place they are applying, rather than just checking a box that shows which grading system their university used.