Stress in the WW-P School District is nothing new. Being a product of the WW-P school system meant you were a product of a demanding system of high performance both within and outside of the classroom. However, while many of us detested the system and spent countless hours wishing things were easier, most of us have come to appreciate being exposed to stress before it was too late.
In our current research-driven society, I appreciate the district taking the appropriate steps to identify how we can make our students “whole” and well-rounded. However, as any data scientist will tell you, the numbers are only as good as how you use them. By identifying stress as an issue, and coming to the conclusion that eliminating midterms and finals is the solution, our district is taking a major step in the wrong direction.
The issue stems not from stress, but from how the finals and midterms are administered. What is the purpose of a final exam? It is to draw concepts from various sections of the year to develop problems that force students to look at the entire picture, and not just the material covered in the last two weeks. Education is cumulative, and the purpose of a final exam is to ensure that students recognize how the pieces fit together. By eliminating finals, you take away this crucial element to education. While it was often frustrating, the best moments in the classroom were, “remember that concept we learned two months ago? Well here’s how we can use it to solve this new problem.”
So what does our district propose to replace these finals with? Use AP tests. The notion of replacing tests that are catered directly to the information taught by our teachers, with standardized tests administered to students around the country, contradicts everything our district stands for. AP tests are exactly the opposite of what education should be. They are tests that can be taught from a $30 book at Barnes & Noble. They test memorization, not knowledge. Further, by switching to AP tests as the norm, our district is putting more stress on students to prepare for multiple tests that often occur on the same day. What’s more stressful than taking several multi-hour tests back-to-back? Lastly, these AP tests cost money and are not mandatory. 80 percent of students may take AP tests, but how many are only take one, or two? And at least 20 percent aren’t taking any. Who are we leaving behind here?
Dr. Aderhold and company, I thank you for caring about developing well-rounded students who are prepared for college and beyond.
However, you are ignoring the real problem here. Stress is the issue and our district needs to teach our students how to cope with stress, not get rid of it. I can assure you that by removing finals and midterms in high school, our students are in for a BIG surprise come college. Rather than eliminate these exams, we should rely on our teachers to help students effectively prepare for finals and midterms.
First, teachers need to ensure their exams are testing cumulative knowledge, and not something that can be memorized/studied for the night before. Second, our teachers need to incorporate preparation for finals into the curriculum. My best teachers began giving us study problems weeks in advance so that we had time to ask questions, cover every subject, and prepare. Third, we need to teach our students that stress is a matter of priority, and that a final exam should not take precedence over mental health.
Too often our society pins stress as a negative. Instead, we need to teach our students that stress often acts as the driver to great success, and that dealing with stress ineffectively is what hurts us the most. I guarantee you that teaching students how to cope with stress before it’s too late will not only create more well-rounded “children,” but more well-rounded adults.
Jesse Yu
Yu is a senior at NYU.
