Every once in awhile, you get a bad grade on a test. It’s not the end of the world, but your grade drops from a 93 to an 82. Since you are upset about your grade, you go to your teacher and ask if you can do extra credit to help your grade. The next day in class, he or she announces an extra credit opportunity called Poetry and Toads, a Halloween-themed poetry event. You go to the event, read your poem, and leave. When you check your grade later that night, it is back up to a 90. You didn’t have very much fun at the event, but the time was worth it as it brought up your grade.

This is your teacher’s worst nightmare when it comes to extra credit: you went for the credit, but didn’t take the opportunity to really experience the event and be enriched by it. Over the years, and in particular this past semester, the teachers at TBS have given the students many opportunities to earn extra credit by participating in an event led by an author, guest speaker, or extracurricular activity. While the upside for students is boosting their grade, the downside is that the students might not appreciate the full experience because they are going for the wrong reason; namely for points.

“My problem with offering extra credit is that it attracts some students who are in attendance simply to put in their time, get their extra credit, and get out,” said middle school English teacher Mrs. Denise Ponchock. “During the Poetry and Toads event, it was frustrating to watch students stand before an audience having not rehearsed a poem that they planned to recite. Several students were on their phones rather than listening to their peers.”

Other teachers feel that simply getting students to attend is a win/win situation because the students come for the extra credit, but are at least exposed to an enriching experience.
“I just feel as if extra credit brings people in, even if at first they are not interested in going to the event, and then, hopefully, you get them there and they really embrace the value of the event even though they only came for the points,” said Dr. Cristina James, the Middle School’s dean of academics. “Think of extra credit like the universal statement of a critical essay. In this analogy, the extra credit points are like the hook that gets your reader in the door to read the essay.”

The Middle school recently invited author Marja Mills to speak to students about her friendship with acclaimed American novelist Harper Lee. Mills chronicled her time with Lee in her memoir, The Mockingbird Next Door, a book that many of the middle schoolers have read or are currently reading. The students were offered extra credit if they attended and brought a dish to a potluck dinner to hear Mills speak. For Head of Middle School Mr. Charles Hagy, this event provided students a new perspective on the life and work of Harper Lee, an author whose work is an integral part of the English curriculum.

“Part of teaching is to get kids to try things that they otherwise wouldn’t do,” said Hagy. “The carrot of ten points actually got the kids to come in and listen to Mrs. Mills speak, and they were able to get a deeper understanding of To Kill A Mockingbird. So I do [believe] the teachers were successful.”

However, Mrs Ponchock, who sat in the back of the Barker Performing Arts Center as the event unfolded, saw things from a different perspective.

“[During the Marja Mills event], I watched as the audience talked, texted, yawned, and got up during the lecturer’s presentation,” she said. “The general attitude of the audience was that they were there to get the extra credit then leave as quickly as possible. Personally, I prefer quality over quantity. I would rather see fewer in attendance as long as those attending were there voluntarily.”
It seems to boil down to this: the extra credit hook will only lead to the desired result of enriching students if, and this is a big if, the event itself captures their imagination.

In the past, interactive events at TBS that offered extra credit have led to that desired goal. Events like last year’s TEDx Talks and author visits by luminaries like Michael Hingson and Emily Jenkins were all extra credit opportunities that students and teachers really enjoyed. Once they were participating, most even forgot they had only come for extra credit. Last year during the TEDx event, students memorized their speeches and performed them live on stage, and then had their talks published to the TEDx website for the world to see. What a resume builder! Participating also earned them a considerable amount of extra credit. “We couldn’t get rid of students who wanted to keep rehearsing their TEDx talks at the end of the day preceding the event,” said Dr. James of the enthusiasm of the student presenters.

And the Michael Hingson event of a few years ago was a diversity book club event where the students read Hingson’s book, Thunderdog, about how he, a blind man, escaped the World Trade Center on 9/11 with the help of his guide dog, Roselle. Many students, confronted with Hingson’s riveting story and involved in making their own braille posters, forgot all about extra credit as they enjoyed the author’s visit.

Finally, Emily Jenkins, a YA author who wrote the novel, The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks, visited our campus a few years ago and talked about gender equality, a hot topic on our campus and one that played a major role in her novel. Jenkins not only delivered a strong speech about feminism, but she also ran student-fiction writing workshops. These three amazing opportunities made the experiences memorable and fun for the students and teachers. If the authors hadn’t been amazing speakers, their presentation would not have been as fun or interesting.

Perhaps the issue in the case of Marja Mills, while she is an accomplished author and had incredible experiences with Harper Lee, was that she really didn’t seize the full opportunity. Students became bored because Mills retold the story of her book which they had read. Many reported that they would have been more engaged had she told them behind-the-scenes stories they had not encountered in the book and had she been more interactive. In this case, the students came away thinking of the credit instead of the experience.

“I went [to hear Mrs. Mills] for the extra credit,” said an eighth grader who wished to remain anonymous. “[Even though] it was not the most interesting [event], I received the credit.”

On the other hand, some students really enjoy attending these events, and had the experience the school was hoping to provide.

“I went to the Poetry and Toads event,” said Briley Crisafi. “Even without the extra credit that was offered, I would have gone. There are not many opportunities in the school to go to these events and show artistic abilities such as reciting poems or singing a song, so I really enjoyed it.”

Extra credit points are undoubtedly a dilemma. Even though they get people to the events, at what cost? Teachers hand out the points when the students go to the events, which leads to grade inflation – giving the students a higher overall grade than they actually deserve. So what is the solution?

Dr. James offered this: “Perhaps the answer is to eradicate extra credit. As a premiere private school, we are offering some amazing opportunities for students by way of special events and author visits. It does seem rather incongruous to have to ‘pay students’ with extra credit to go to an event they should be happy to go to in the first place.”