As stressful as the amounts of work, delayed schedule changes, and grading system are, students in the magnet/gifted now have the added pressure of grade warnings, which are beginning to be carried out this semester. Students receive these warnings if they have below an 82 in any of their core classes.

 Many students can agree that the warnings only add extra unwanted stress and anxiety to their lives. 

“I think that [grade warnings] put a lot of pressure on students, and it’s unnecessary pressure,” said Anya Bowers (’24), a magnet student at Chamblee.

While many students ,like Bowers, agree that the grade warnings are just another unnecessarily stressful pressure, others also think that the warnings aren’t going to significantly raise their grades.

“I had [a grade warning] last year during the first semester, and during the second semester, I had a lot of anxiety that I was going to get kicked out [of the magnet/gifted program]. And this year I have some leftover anxiety from that, and I don’t feel like my performance has increased in terms of quality. [The grade warning] is just adding way more stress and anxiety,” said Spencer Yelk Woodruff (’24).

So, in addition to added stress and no extra motivation for grade improvement, another con of the grade warnings, students claim, is the fear of taking a difficult, challenging class that might be harder to get a good grade in.

“In the [magnet/gifted] program they want you to challenge yourself, but at the same time, they don’t want you to get a C, so that seems kind of counterintuitive because I think if you really wanted to take challenging classes that would help broaden your horizons, then it wouldn’t be the worst thing if you don’t get an A. And I think that if people are getting A’s for every class all throughout high school, then they probably are not really challenged enough,” said Nora Glass (’25), who is in the gifted program.

Overall, the grade warnings, generally, do not seem to help students as they are intended to. The added pressure that comes with the warnings, students believe, is unnecessary and can be difficult to handle for some.

As for the effectiveness of the warnings themselves, only time will tell.