Extra credit should be earned by students
(jordan Hammer)
When it comes to extra credit, there is an abundance of ways to earn it. Whether you write an extra paper, go see a special guest speaker, or go to an event on campus, it’s there to help our grade. However, extra credit usually relates to the class it is being offered in. For example, political science teachers may give extra credit for voting and science teachers may give some for reporting on current science articles. Both of these relate to the specific class.
Teachers should not give extra credit for something that is ridiculously easy and takes no real work that corresponds with the class. That is why it’s called extra credit, students work hard for it to improve our grade, usually only by a few points. It would be like your history teacher offering extra credit or giving blood. It has nothing to do with the class. What about all those who can’t give blood, there is a long lists of reasons why they are hindered from donating and it becomes a very unfair advantage.
The students that are able to donate would be receiving extra credit for something they could and should do on their own. This really isn’t extra credit. Yes, they went to school and stayed an extra couple of minutes to donate, but that’s the only extra part about it. No extra work, nothing relating to their class, and nothing that deserves their grades to be raised.
As a staff, we agree that extra credit should be earned, not given for something as easy as donating blood.
Extra credit should be difficult. You are doing it to improve your grade and help you learn. Extra credit helps you gain knowledge about your class, and it is forcing you to go above and beyond to learn about a subject.
If you’re struggling in a class, you can work on extra credit to help you out. It is always an assignment that forces you to learn, forces you to understand your class and what the instructor is teaching you.
Extra credit should definitely be offered but the work done to receive it must help the student understand the class. The whole point of going to school is to learn and improve education.
We come here to gain knowledge so we can go out into the world and make a difference. It will make it difficult to do so if we have no idea what we are doing.
It may not seem like extra credit can make that much of a difference in the big picture of your life, but if it is assigned right and really makes you work and think, it will. It will force you to take a deeper look into the subject that is being studied.
It makes students take extra time to learn something the instructor may not have time to teach. Knowledge is power, and those with power rule the world. So, work hard for extra credit and go above and beyond for those extra points, even if for just a few.