First quarter grades at Our Lady of Good Counsel

A week ago Friday was the final day of the first quarter grading period here at Our Lady of Good Counsel Junior-Senior Hight School, just as it was with many of the other schools in the area.

There is both good news and bad news, but I'll leave you to ascertain which is which by posting the girls' grades below:

Meelyn

Spanish 94% A-
Biology 83% C
Pre-Algebra 88% B
Grammar 87% B
Vocabulary 9 82% C
British Literature 97% A
Composition 94% A-
Phys Ed 99% A
Religion 97% A

Aisling

Spanish 90% B
Pre-Algebra 86% B
Grammar 85% B
Vocabulary 8 87% B
British Literature 90% B
Composition 93% B+
Phys Ed 93% B+
Religion 73% C-

Several of my friends (and a couple of my daughters) have chided me for using such a hard grading scale, but I like to hedge my bets. Different colleges use different grading scales, so my feeling is that, when it comes to admissions and grades issued later on, we might as well start out really tough and that way, we'll all be pleased if it turns out that college grading scales are less stringent. But I'm thinking that most universities, both state and private, would be much more likely to use the harder scale.

I'm really pleased with MOST of their grades: there's one in particular that makes me flinch, I'm sure you'll know which one it is if you look for it. Aaaaaggghhhh!!!! This marks the first year that this particular daughter has done this particular subject all by herself, so I'm sure that's part of the reason for the low score. I'm hoping for better things by semester's end.

The only subject Meelyn is behind in is Biology, but she's ahead in Vocabulary and Spanish and exactly on course in all the rest, so I feel content. The high school thing is overwhelming, but I'm happy to report that it is much less overwhelming than it was in September. I hope that we'll feel that it's all old hat by the time January rolls around.