In the midst of controversy over the recent additions of AP and weighted classes, it is clear that everyone in this community has the common goal to form well rounded, functioning adults. The question is, how do we increase the quality of our education while reducing stress and pressure for students? The answer is complete removal of weighted classes in Piedmont.
Of course, this sounds extreme. However, many school districts have executed this same idea and have seen success. For example, Park City School District in Utah completely eliminated its weighted GPA system in 2025, reporting that the change reduced academic pressure and allowed students to choose classes based on interest instead of GPA manipulation.
While an obvious concern of removing weighted classes is sacrificing rigor, in many cases, the opposite will be true. In a recent TPH story about AP culture in Piedmont, TPH interviewed various AP teachers about what it was like teaching an AP class. Many shared a concern that, while the College Board sets a strict curriculum for AP classes, one that is tailored to the average high school student, in Piedmont, everyone strives for a much higher standard.
Other schools that strive for the same standard, like the academically elite New Trier High School in Illinois, removed their highest AP weighting years ago because AP’s rigid, test-prep-driven curriculum restricted the deeper, more advanced teaching their educators wanted to offer.
A main reason PUSD is a special school district is the incredible teachers that create well-rounded students. But when classes are confined to the College Board curriculum and teachers must devote large amounts of class time solely on preparing students for a test, we lose what makes us special. Multiple teachers described how when an interested student asks a building question in class, they are not able to devote any time to it. This is a clear example of how our education is fundamentally wrong. Students learn the most and work the hardest when they are interested in the topic, something often lost in AP classes.
While honors classes are a compromise between giving students access to more academic rigor while giving teachers more freedom to teach the curriculum they prefer, it does not achieve the goal of reducing the college pressure. And we already see that there have been many classes recently gaining the title of honors or classes that might soon, showing that we don’t necessarily need the title of honors to provide the rigor.
In this era of college admissions, it is unrealistic to expect the majority of students to effectively manage their course load to reduce stress when they are evaluated based on how many weighted classes they took out of the number that was offered. When TPH interviewed almost 300 students about their experience at Piedmont, an overwhelming number of students shared their struggles with facing pressure to take harder classes. The only way to alleviate this pressure and get students into classes they are interested in is to do something as extreme as removing all weighted classes.
Another reason to remove these classes is to increase belonging at our school. Belonging has been a main focus for the administration this year and while the discussions and assemblies and focus are productive, this is a way to make major change. In our current system, especially with the increase in weighted classes starting in sophomore year, students are often tracked into taking almost all weighted classes or almost none. This divides the student body and makes building relationships outside of one’s circle much more difficult. Our best way as students to build relationships in our classes is through projects and discussions. When we are separated into two distinct groups, students often never share classes with a majority of their grade. If the administration truly wants to see an increase in belonging and a more connected student body, they must take more drastic measures to change the structure of our school.
PUSD also offers such unique and interesting classes. Courses like Guitar Engineering, Marine Science and Entomology, and classes like ASB, Yearbook, and Journalism are amazing opportunities for students to take classes they are truly interested in and take advantage of what our district has to offer. And yet in order to take these classes, students must sacrifice a piece of their college admissions chances. That is a broken system.
In order to ensure the best possible education and well-being for our students, PUSD must show its trust in our great teachers and unique classes to let Piedmont shine by removing all weighted courses.
