Transferring in to the junior class from St. Teresa’s Academy, I admit I was a little bit worried about Sion’s rumored more challenging academic curriculum. Sion stands out from other schools because of our unique grading scale, as most other schools in the Kansas City area use a “traditional” scale, meaning that a 90-100 is an A and so on.

From Pembroke to Rockhurst to the Blue Valley school district, a traditional grading scale is used for all students. St. Teresa’s dropped the traditional grading scale and decided to stop using letter grades altogether, working solely off the percentages a student earns in that class.

But Sion’s grading scale is unique, much like the other aspects of the school. Changing the grading scale would take away one of the reasons Sion stands out from other private schools in the area. It would take away one of the things that makes our students work harder.

Despite fears that the harsh grading scale would make my grades seem worse, Sion’s grading scale has done the opposite. It pushes me, and all students, to work harder for the A that we so badly want, and we are forced to strive for not just a traditional 90, but a 93.

It means more to Sion students when we are proudly able to say that we have straight A’s. And many of us do it. The amount of students who receive First Honors is astounding and attests to the fact that there is nothing wrong with the way our grades are done now. Our grading scale proves just how uniquely intelligent our students are.

Sure, using a traditional grading scale to make achieving A’s an easier task for students and following suit with the other schools in the Kansas City area would make sense but are Sion students really traditional? Do we really need to step down? I beg to differ. Sion is a special place, and our students are unlike any other students from any other school.

We are intelligent, bright, students who have been making the challenging grading scale work in our favor. We should keep pushing ourselves to achieve the best grades possible, and keeping our grading scale the way it is now would help us keep motivated.