I don't think that GPA is the best or fairest way to measure someone's work ethic or intelligence.

I think it's actually harder to get high marks in my system though. I'm pretty sure what would get you an 80 in the US would get you a 75 here.

Then how do you know he wouldn't have been accepted to your school? He gave his high school grades, not his middle school grades, or whatever criteria your school bases its acceptance on.

Because you can't transfer or be allowed in without a 3.5.

That's a dumb system unless it's an adjusted GPA. You'd end up with a bunch of kids who transferred in from easier schools and/or less advanced classes while turning down kids from more difficult schools or more advanced classes.

How is it a dumb system? We don't let in dummies. We have a 98% college graduation rate. Our students are all very smart. Many attend Governor's School and are in TAG. We also have an aptitude test.

Hence my qualifiers. Just setting an unadjusted GPA criteria is silly, in my opinion, without additional criteria. An aptitude test is a much better way of determining student skill for the reasons I listed before. So it's good that your school does both. A kid with a 3.2 in all AP classes is going to be a better overall student than a kid with a 3.8 in all blowoff classes.

Also, I would expect a private school to have a much higher college graduation rate. The kids in private schools usually come from families with more money. Money is correlated with fewer family problems, less juvenile delinquency, college attendance, and a whole slew of other important factors for college graduation. That a school can take a group of (presumably) wealthy students and get a high college graduation rate does not impress me. If you took the top 60% of wealthy students of my 2500 kid high school you'd have an extremely high college graduation rate, too.

Not to mention our students are smarter. Our average SAT score is 1940. The national average is 1500. And when I said graduates I meant 4 year grads.

I think, that is what Gorgon was speaking of...
I have a 3.8 in AP/Honors classes. I guarantee you I am smarter than people with a 4.0 in "C" level classes...
A set GPA basically creates a wall for those who are better students in higher classes, a wall with a gate for people with a high GPA in a basic level class.
Basically, what Gorgon said earlier.
All in all, the school system is screwed up by "No child left behind", Zero tolerance policies, State mandated testing, etc.
For the most part, our educations are useless. Tell me when I am going to use Calculus in my daily life.

That's why I said private schools are better. No standardized testing and we live tons of children behind. ;)

So it's better for some, but not all. It helps those who are already doing well.

I think that either AP/Honors classes should have weighted grades (where you can receive up to a 5.0) or that lower level classes should give less credit, topping out at say, 3.0 or 3.5. This rewards students for taking harder classes and doing better in them.

Here you need to take higher level classes to get into certain programs, and one of the schools I got into added an extra 10% to my grade for taking the higher level.

School isn't supposed to prepare you for what every person will need every day. It's there to prepare you for doing things that are hard.

Unless you'd rather take a class on "How to flip a burger and slack off while your boss isn't looking."

No, I would rather take a class in linear algebra or advanced C++...
Useful stuff.
School is designed to teach you, however, in this day and age, it seems to be designed to tell you what to think.

That is such bullshit, they don't tell you what to think. So many people go on about how school is a "conformist factory" but teachers are always shoving idea about how "we're all unique and special snowflakes." Schools encourage you to be an individual, not follow the crowd.

They aren't so much about teaching you skills you'll need, it's about learning how to operate in society, and how to do well in college where you likely will be learning important skills for your career.

Yeah, it's never the school officials themselves, including teachers, that people conform to. It's their peers.

I worded that badly,
It leaves no room for questioning what you learn. I do not believe a lot of what my biology teacher told me last year, I questioned the truth behind the knowledge; therefore, I failed biology.

Go to college then question your professors. You might find it hard though if you can't get through high school.

Unless your biology teacher was terrible, chances are you were questioning fundamentals that have been known to be correct for decades, if not centuries. Slowing the class down because you think you've made a breakthrough with half an hour of thought isn't very helpful.

He just wants to blame someone else for his failures.

I did not slow the class down. I asked at a later time.
I take the blame for my own failures thank you very much...
When the theories involved go against my religion and claim a good portion of it to be false, I am going to question the theories.

Ah, there's the problem.

When the evidence goes against your beliefs, it's usually best to question your beliefs. I believe we have an intelligent design thread on here, if you'd like to dredge it up.

Yes I have seen it.
I have already concluded that I do not believe in evolution. It just doesn't do it for me.
Since the class was a required class I had no choice but to take it.

Yeah, how dare the school teach fact.