4 minute read
Summa, Magna & Cum Laude
Since Westside’s founding in 1952, a Class rank system has been used to compare students in each grade. Within the past few years, the decision has been made to change the system of class rank for the class of 2025 and on, from the current system to the Latin Honors system.
According to Principal Jay Opperman, the decision was based on the idea that there are different paths through high school for students such as engineering and technology and physical education that are not as appreciated in the old structure of class rank as those students who take more honors and AP
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classes.
“We have really had our department leaders and teachers go back [through] and say [which classes] in engineering and tech are more rigorous and we are actually giving those more value,” Opperman said. “We are also trying to emphasize that there are more pathways and in these pathways, you can earn points in this system that are valued.”
Junior Eddie Pike also sees the benefit in providing more rigorous classes in other fields. He believes that administrators should look into the amount of time spent outside of class before giving certain classes more weight. According to Pike, AP classes stand out against other classes of the same rigor because of the amount of homework.
“Part [of more weighted classes] is how much work are they doing outside of clas,” Pike said. “While that woodworking class may be difficult, you look at AP classes and you spend a lot of time outside of class, especially when it comes close to the AP exam.”
Opperman said that another reason the class rank is being switched is that fewer and fewer high schools in the country are ranking students,. Therefore, fewer colleges are factoring class rank in the application and acception process.
“The concept of ranking is less popular, less than half of American high schools use class rank,” Opperman said. “I think the trend was already there for colleges anyway just because a lot of schools have gone away from ranking.”
Pike has also found that the number of colleges looking at class rank is dwindling.
“I am starting to look into colleges, and none of them care,” Pike said. “Not a single college says ‘we care about [class rank].’”
Pike said that the change to the Latin Honors system has been talked about in his classes among both students and teachers.
“I actually am aware of it, there have been discussions in my classes,” Pike said. “Teachers are mostly interested in it.”
Although many upperclassmen may know about the switch with the class rank system, freshman Cora Dietrich feels that many in her grade don’t know the specifics of the Latin Honors system, or how it works.
“I think a lot of students have probably heard that it [has] changed, but I don’t think everyone has been very well educated on the specifics of what it entails,” Dietrich said.
Opperman said the Latin Honors system consists of three tiers of honor based on the student’s weighted GPA. The first tier is Summa Cum Laude, translating to with highest honor. The next highest is Magna Cum Laude, meaning with high honor, and the final tier is simply Cum Laude, which is Latin for with honor.
“If a student has a GPA of 4.25, or higher, they would be considered highest honor, or Summa Cum Laude,” Opperman said. “If their GPA is between 4.0 and 4.25, they would be considered high honors, or Magna Cum Laude. If their GPA is 3.75 or higher, they would be Cum Laude, or with honor.”
Starting with the current freshmen, all GPAs will be weighted to go along with the Latin Honors system, and AP classes will be scaled on five points rather than four. All honors classes will be on a 4.5 scale. “AP classes, instead of four grade
points, would be five grade points max, so an A would be 5, a B would be 4, and C would be 3,” Opperman said. “[For] courses labeled in the registration book as honors, an A would be a 4.5, a B would be 4 and so on.”
Dietrich is under the impression that removing class rank and going forward with the Latin Honors system will reduce competition within her class along with making school more enjoyable and less stressful.
“I think it will create a less ‘I’m better than you’ type environment and more people will enjoy school rather than [thinking] ‘I have to be the best,’” Dietrich said.
Opperman adds that the Latin Honors system will be able to recognize more students for their achievements rather than just acknowledging the top 10 percent. With more student recognition comes more pathways and non- traditional post secondary plans.
“The cool thing is we would probably honor 25 to 30 percent of students for their course work, so it was really honoring a larger group of students from a lot of different paths,” Opperman said.
Opperman said that during the development and implementation of the Latin Honors system they were asking the community, parents, and students for feedback on the system.
“We surveyed teachers, we surveyed parents, and we surveyed students,” Opperman said. “When you looked at the surveys, there was more interest potentially in an unranked system.”
Opperman said that the Latin Honors system will let students take the courses they enjoy rather than those that will give them the higher rank or GPA. Opperman expressed that students will feel honored more than the students using the current system. “I can be honored and I can do what I love, if I were to put it in a nutshell,” Opperman said.
