What I want most for Christmas is to not read any more columns about Christmas. That being said, I will continue.

We’ve come down to the wire, and here it is. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you … Finals Week 2000! Hold your applause, please.

For most, it is a time of stress, followed by the relief of completing the week without losing anything of importance but our minds.

For the relentless perfectionist, it only gets worse from here. Once Finals Week is over, the week-long lag begins before the semester grades are discovered. For them (and by “them,.” I mean me), this semester doesn’t end until December 22.

What’s more distressing is that in most classes, a few points one way or the other can make a difference.

This is partly because of the ISU grade-point system. An A earns a 4.0, however, for an A-, it is a 3.67, while a B+ earns a 3.33. This greatly affects exactly how those grades are interpreted, simply because our system is a peculiar one.

Within the Big 12, there are numerous other systems, which are less minus-heavy than the ISU system. At Oklahoma, they have the ultimate in simplicity. According to the University website, there are no pluses or minuses, just a simple 4.0, 3.0, 2.0, and 1.0 system.

Even more favorable is the system at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The system is even more bizarre in that pluses exist, but no minuses. A B+ earns a 3.5, and there are no minuses to counter it.

Each system has its own benefits. The Iowa State system has clearly defined options, and there are a lot of possible grades. The OU system is the ultimate in clarity, since there are only 5 possible grades. Meanwhile, the UNL system is very student-friendly.

Iowa takes an approach similar to Iowa State’s, except that they actually have an A+, worth 4.33. So, in a ludicrous twist, you can earn a 4.0, even if you have a B or two. Compared to most systems, ISU is like a giant green grade Grinch, carrying away our good grades.

What does this all mean in the end? Well, for most people, nothing. The honest fact is that for a large percentage of the university, grades mean practically nothing, as long as they graduate. So those people can forget any brief thoughts of revolution and rebellion.

However, many of us intend to go to graduate school or professional school after our time at Iowa State, for reasons ranging from subject interest to the justification of the large collection of textbooks gathered since the bookstore wouldn’t buy them back. For people with such ambition, the ISU grade system is a rather unpleasant experience.

Unlike OU or UNL, ISU students get to endure the displeasure of minuses. With every minus, those odds of postgraduate school get slimmer and slimmer, until they eventually reach starvation, wither, and die.

In reality, the system only holds students back. While it may be more accurate than the UNL system, it also punishes achievement to a certain extent. Our system offers us more negatives than positives. Since we cannot and should not be able to earn an A+, we see a system which has more minuses than pluses. Just a few minuses can adversely affect any GPA, dropping a wonderful 4.0 at UNL to a 3.67.

This simply puts us at a higher standard than other universities. While in some cases, we want higher standards, in this case, by being held to a higher one, it will hurt. While graduate schools will get a grade transcript, explaining how grades are earned, it simply doesn’t do enough. When you consider the number of transcripts they go through in an average day, they aren’t going to take the time to give my transcript special consideration just because of our bizarre grade system.

The problem is that there is no clear solution. If we pare down to a simpler system, people will bemoan the difference between the lowest A and the highest B as strictly arbitrary. They’ll have a point. But, in the end, even the simplest system eliminates some of the negative emphasis in the current GPA system.

Our system isn’t any more logical than any other, so why do we hold it so dear? It’s time to look at it with a critical eye to see if changes could help Iowa State and ISU graduates. In the end, it’s probable that we’ll find changes need to be made just to keep up with the current flow of grades at other universities.

For now, I have advice for anyone who happens to be struck down with a minus — don’t hold yourself back. Do the natural thing: demand a recount.