I was eligible for the maximum academic grants for my state, just to be denied due to GPA because the string of high schools I went to were utter dystopian nightmares.
Another problem with relying on GPA is it is easily gamed. Parents and students can pressure teachers and administrations since so much is reliant on it. And a 4.0 at one school may not be the same at another school.
I understand some people "test poorly" but the truth is, if you actually know the material well, you'll test just fine in most cases. We can also coach students on how to approach testing. Other ideas are to break the test into various sessions with different admins to limit cheating potential and to take an average of the scores (or some other method) for each subject.
I guess my point is - make test results the metric to remove all bias. Change how we approach testing and preparation.
It doesn't remove all bias. It does remove a lot of bias and concentrates the remaining bias in a particular dimension, which probably does substantially improve the fairness of the system, but we need to be clear-eyed that it's not eradicating bias.
of course, but that just illustrates that GPA is less about actual academic achievement, and more about playing a revolving game of teacher's pet at best, and at worst, being another tortured cog in a horrible system of petty social games called "high school"
giving any credence to GPA is upholding this hellish set of norms.
K-12 should be K-9. High school is glorified babysitting, with bullying and drugs being the only escape, for both parents, teachers, and students.
Academic achievement is entirely a measure of how well you're able to play the game, and has little to do with intellect until you reach the highest levels, and even then you can be a little less intelligent if you are very very good at the game (whereas you cannot be very intelligent and bad at the game).
So yeah, you weren't very good at the game. I wasn't either. Own that, and stop making excuses!
I understand some people "test poorly" but the truth is, if you actually know the material well, you'll test just fine in most cases. We can also coach students on how to approach testing. Other ideas are to break the test into various sessions with different admins to limit cheating potential and to take an average of the scores (or some other method) for each subject.
I guess my point is - make test results the metric to remove all bias. Change how we approach testing and preparation.