99+

Flipped through the local newspaper earlier today and came across an article about the area's top high school grads. Apparently, some Chinese girl from BA is graduating with a six-course average of 99.83%.

Surprising? No.

I'm not crazy. A 99%+ average is entirely possible at BA. If I graduated from BA a few years later, I probably could have done the same.

How so?

All you have to do is get 100% in all three math courses and around 95% in another three PACE courses. Then, because they're adding bonuses to PACE course grades, overall you'll be able to get that 99%+.

Essentially, BA's grades and rankings are always inflated because (1) they've got at least 20 to 30 PACE people pulling up the average and (2) they're adding bonuses for the PACErs.

Unfortunately for me, they didn't have this bonus policy back when I was at BA. -_-''

Is it fair? Depends on your perspective I guess.

For me, a former PACEr, it is. PACE courses are, essentially, substantially more advanced. But when it comes to university applications, there is no recognition of this. So, essentially, you take a tougher course and get a lower grade for nothing. And so, in recent years, they introduced the bonus system.

For outsiders who don't know the system, it's absolutely crazy. The school's grades and rankings are not a true representation of the quality of the school at all. The good grades are only because they've got PACErs holding it up.

(Side note: Surprisingly, it seems that St R has never been able to surpass BA even though they have the IB program.)

Anyway...

How did I get into these thoughts? I guess seeing that article made me feel a little ashamed of myself. I looked at that and thought: that was me six years ago, with the stellar average, winning the most prestigious award at graduation. And then I think about how poorly I've been doing this term.

But. In recent years, a part of me has stopped playing this game. I don't want to compete. I don't care if I don't come out on top. The reality is that there are a million people out there that are smarter than me. But most importantly, I realized that there are other things in life that are much more important to me.

*sigh*

What have I done?