Seniors Being Exempt From Finals

 

A much debated topic on whether senior students should be exempt from taking finals happens every year as seniors finish off their last week as high school students. Senior year of high school is the most exciting but stressful year of all.  During the first semester seniors start to send out applications for colleges and figuring out what they want to do for the rest of their life. Towards the end of the school year when things start to slow down and many seniors get a bad case of “senioritis” which is a disease that includes laziness and repeated absences. Finals count as 10% towards the overall grade for that class. Most seniors have been accepted to one or more colleges or universities. It should be a reward for seniors that have achieved a sufficient grade in their class.

When second semester starts to roll around all the students have already checked out and are ready for the warm weather. Finals count as a huge grade of the average grade for class, which can affect their grades immensely. Luckily for seniors their second semester isn’t being looked at by colleges. Erin Kennedy states “Considering the fact that your work of second semester doesn’t go towards your GPA, you shouldn’t have to be tested on it with a final.”  There shouldn’t be a finally if it’s not going to count towards something for the real world. A student from Norton High School Ryan Iannotti says” Yes, cause what’s the point for them to them at all? They’re already accepted into whatever college they’re going to, so who cares” Not saying that all seniors should be exempt. If some students are not meeting the state requirements in order to graduate high school then they should have the option to take the final or not.  

At most high school seniors are exempt from finals when they have reached a satisfactory grade in their class. Students should require to get an 80 average or above to be exempt. Also students should get an option to take the final if they want to improve their overall average, but it shouldn’t be mandatory.  A junior at Norton High School, Nicole Kiley, says “Yes (seniors should be exempt), they worked hard all year and shouldn’t have to spend their last few days in school taking finals!” Seniors work their butts off all year trying to get their GPA up and getting good grades in general. Summer is coming which means that they are almost done with school. They shouldn’t have such a stressful test on their shoulders. Some students are preparing for college life, pre graduation parties, and all the festivities of just being a senior.

However seniors at Norton High School are already being exempt from finals exams so it’s not a big deal in Norton. The only catch is that if seniors have an average of an A- or above. I believe that it should be lowered to a B- or above. Some underclassmen say that it’s not fair for seniors to be exempt and that they are required to take it no matter what their grades were. Underclassmen don’t have a say in anything that seniors do because they haven’t been there as long as the seniors have. Underclassmen’s opinions don’t count because they are underclassmen and haven’t been through the stress of applying to colleges, taking SATs and trying to maintain a high GPA for colleges to look at. It’s safe to say that after four years of high school it should be a senior privilege.