With the switch to remote learning in mid-March, a trend of uncertainty was set forth with students worrying about how they will learn, as well as how to raise and maintain their grades. The coronavirus has changed our way of life and inevitably changed our schooling.

 With this change came a change to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) grading policy, which was able to put the students at ease by assuring them their grade can only go up from the start of distance learning. 

LAUSD introduced new grading guidelines, which put the students at ease but left the administration and teachers near powerless. The guidelines cover many topics but most importantly states that no student shall finish with a fail while highlighting that students will not receive an academic grade lower than what they received as of March 13. This bodes well for students because it lets them know their grades are safe. 

Online learning can be difficult and hold many barriers, from anxiety and distress brought on by the global pandemic to internet disconnections which contributes to the uncertainty of grades. Nevertheless,  knowing I can’t be docked points or lose my A that I had earned from when in-person school was in session puts me at ease.

However, it does raise the issue that some students will stop participating and stop working because they know their grade is safe. Administrations are worried about students losing motivation to attend classes and submit their work. I have felt myself lose motivation and slack off with very few things to hold me accountable. It’s bittersweet because as students we know our previous hard work wasn’t completed in vain, but now we have nothing holding us accountable for our work, our lack thereof.

The district’s new guidelines really put learning back into our own hands, and as students, we need to decide what we want to get out of our classes. Whatever we put into our learning we will get out of our learning. Whether we will make the best out of this situation or if we will let go and drift away from our schooling. With the choice being in our own hands we as students have more liberties with our academics, like with which classes we take, how we take them, as well. The choice is ours, what will you choose?