Robinson has a system where students who get honor roll during one grading period get a card to drop one assignment in three classes during the next quarter. Now call me crazy, but if you get honor roll, you probably do not need the extra boost in your classes. The kids who are close to honor roll but are struggling in a couple classes are really the ones who should benefit from a drop card system.

I understand the idea that those who get honor roll should be rewarded for their academic success, but they are not the students who should be getting a helping hand when it comes to their grades. Reward them with something else, like a special lunch item or something to that effect. But if you have nothing but A’s and B’s anyway, then you could see the same amount of success without a drop card.

The people who really need the drop cards are those who are on the fringe of having honor roll but are struggling with a class or two, or the people who have shown improvement in their grades and just need a few extra points to get their grades up. Many students who consistently get D’s and F’s most likely look at the current honor roll drop cards as unattainable and, therefore, it does not give them incentive to raise their grades from the dead. However, if the cards were given to kids who have lower grades but are trying their best to improve them, then that would inspire more effort out of a lot of students to get their grades up.

If you give the power to teachers to give the cards to students they recognize are trying to improve themselves, it could improve the grades of the student body as a whole. This also gives students more reason to respect teachers as they could lose out on their card if the teacher does not feel they deserve it. There are teachers who straight up refuse to take the drop cards, so those teachers could just not give them out for their class and that give the same result as how they are given now.

The current drop card system is like giving water to someone who just drank when there is someone else who has not had a drink in weeks. So give to those in need the help, and not those who can live without it.