I’ve missed assignments before, probably one too many times. This doesn’t happen because I don’t want to do my homework or because I’m rebelling against the school. It mostly happens because I always forget to submit assignments to Schoology. Yet, in my years here at Fremd, I have never received a zero percent on a missing assignment. I’ve always scored at least fifty percent, something I’m so grateful for. All thanks to our best friend, the famous Fremd Fifty.

I enjoy the idea of the Fremd Fifty, but I do understand the opposing opinions. On one hand, it’s not fair that some students work extremely hard and earn a fifty. On the other hand there are students that do no work and get a Fremd Fifty, when they should be getting a zero. To me, it seems unfair that the same credit will go to students who each put in very different amounts of effort.

There are also certain situations like mine, where it isn’t as simple. Most of the time when I receive a Fremd Fifty it’s because I do the work but forget to submit the assignment to Schoology. For example, I will go home and do the work to the best of my abilities but simply forget to click those two buttons. If the Fremd Fifty didn’t exist, I would have a big, fat zero in the gradebook. In many cases, that can be a hard blow to one’s grade. For example, if your grade overall is on the border, a homework category can make or break your grade, even more so if it is a test or quiz.

In order to get an idea about what other students felt, I conducted a poll. Of the sixty-seven participants, about fifty percent of students had gotten a Fremd Fifty. When asked if they liked the idea of the Fremd Fifty, about seventy-five percent said they liked it. From these stats, it seems well favored among students.

What surprised me the most is that over forty participants admitted to abusing this or knowing someone who has. Additionally, many students defended this saying with anything there will always be people who abuse it. Another thing many students brought up was that even if students do abuse it, a fifty percent is still not a desired grade and not even a passing grade.

Overall, we can see that some students liked the idea of a safety net and some didn’t like the fact that no work could equate to half credit. Despite the results, these statistics only spanned a small number of students in our school and do not proportionally represent the total population.

One of the reasons I love the Fremd Fifty is the reasoning behind it. It was implemented to create a form of equalized grading. It’s there in order to even out your grades to give you the grade you deserve. Without the Fremd Fifty, if you had three A’s and one F, your grade would likely average to a C. With the Fremd Fifty, your grade would average out to a B. I think this policy benefits students, protects their grades and keeps their best interests in mind.

Whether you like it or not, the Fremd Fifty does exist. It helps some students and it annoys others. Overall, it’s clear that there is a mix of ideas among students in our school. As we near finals, I can definitely say I feel more at ease knowing that I can least get a fifty percent. It’s not a lot, and it’s not passing, but it is something…something is better than nothing.