Pain for Points

Every year, Mercersburg Academy students are given the opportunity in some courses to receive a 3-point boost on their final term grades through a system called Earned Honors. To ‘earn’ honors, students are usually required to complete coursework that ‘enhances’ their understanding of the material at hand. For some classes, this may be extra assigned readings or being able to lead a class. For others, it requires thinking outside the box to deepen understanding of concepts learnt in class. Honors classes, as their name suggests, are designed to be more difficult than standard classes, but does writing an extra essay or two in English class or working on extra problems in math really translate to the difficulty of an honors class?

Take the tenth grade English course, Power, Justice, and Authority. The class offers an earned honors option that requires students to, throughout the course of the school year, meet four major checkpoints: write an essay that is intended to be submitted to a competition or other venue; lead a class discussion; read an additional book and have a discussion with one of the four teachers about its themes; and, lastly, submit a creative piece of work that reflects analytical aspects of the book that the student is currently studying. Students are also required to read, annotate, and analyze a compendium of additional shorter texts to attend a seminar once per term, either in the morning or evening, outside of class time. After all of these tasks are completed, the teachers decide whether a student has earned honors or not. This extra work helps a student improve their writing and analysis skills, but many students have commented on it feeling like busywork. How much does this system, which is so based on extra and repetitive work, really help the student achieve a deeper understanding of material like an honors class can?

Honors classes require students to retain information more efficiently and have strong independent study skills. They move faster than regular classes, and although this class may be more time-consuming, students ultimately are able to learn more than they would in a normal class. Students must already have demonstrated understanding of the subject at hand through their previous grades, or in some cases, placement tests. Honors language classes are often conducted completely in the target language, allowing students to reach fluency faster while challenging them through listening and speaking skills. Honors science classes require students to be able to handle a fast-paced class with a heavy workload. During assessments, students are tested not only on their understanding of concepts but also on their actual implementation. Through this rigor, they are prepared more extensively for AS classes. This raises questions about whether it is equitable for students of both pathways to receive the same grade boost when one involves simply completing extra work.

I believe earned honors is a great way for students who want to achieve more in the classroom to improve, but ultimately it does not deserve the same point boost as an honors course would. Earned honors has, personally, helped me gain a deeper understanding of a book, and given me the opportunity to execute the concepts and formulas I’ve learned in math, but it can’t compare to the difficulty of an honors class. Maybe it’s time to start reconsidering the earned honors system and how much it really benefits the student.