If you haven’t already heard, Auburn University is considering changing the grading system to a plus and minus grading system. This may be the worst idea ever introduced to Auburn’s student body. A questionnaire was sent out on October 25, 2016, asking for students' opinions on changing the grading system, and it got an overwhelmingly negative response. This is for good reason. This grading system would be terrible for students, teachers and the university as a whole. Here are some reasons why Auburn should not adopt this grading system.

1. Students' GPAs will lower tremendously.

This one’s an obvious reason as to why this grading system is a bad idea. With this system, earning an A won’t necessarily give you the full 4.0 toward your GPA if it is not a high A. Students at Auburn believe in hard work, but it is very difficult to get a high A in a class. Earning a low A is difficult enough. This GPA lowering will make Auburn look bad, and students will be less competitive applying for graduate schools and jobs.

2. Adding more pressure to schoolwork is not good for mental health.

As I’ve said, college is already hard enough. Students already stress about grades without this system, so imagine how much worse it would get having to scrounge for every little point on your grade. The university has mentioned that this change would help motivate students to do better, but I don’t think it’ll be effective. Taking a class just to worry about little points on your grade is not a good way to learn.

3. Teachers will get even more annoying emails about changing grades.

If the teachers think it’s bad now, imagine how terrible their inboxes will look with this grading system. Students will be stressing out about every last little point to get the GPA they deserve.

4. Future students will choose other schools over Auburn because of this.

This grading system would be a big turn-off. Why would students want to choose a school that will make it harder for them to succeed? As a high school student, college is scary enough. Adding in this crazy grading system would make it worse.

5. More students will be put on academic probation and have problems graduating.

This is terrible for the students who are already spending tons of money to come here. It also makes Auburn as a whole look bad.

To whomever is in charge of making this change: I hope you’re reading this. Please don’t add in this system at Auburn.