For once, I am not lost. I know exactly where I stand with
public school midterm exams. To put it bluntly; they’re bullshit. Who decided
that it was a good idea to set these kids up for disaster? All it’s teaching
them is to look forward to disappointment. Most high school students actually
care about their grades and genuinely want to do well. So why is it fair that those
students can go all semester riding on the honor roll, and then pierce their
grade with a mandatory midterm exam? It’s outrageous. To hear from a teacher
that you need a 100% perfect score just to maintain your already struggling
grade is terrifying. Students are already being tested on important information
in all classes on a weekly basis, and teachers can barely maintain those
reasonable grading deadlines. On top of regularly scheduled tests and semester
exams, the public school system has also issued SOLs, ACTs, SATs, and PSATs to
name a few. What this teaches high school students is that these standardized tests
are either going to make or break their futures, and it should not be that way.
I would not want my kid to grow up in fear of failure. Parents alone put so much pressure on their
children to always get the highest score possible, and often reprimand their
children for not achieving their expectations. We want young people to succeed because
they’re the next generation and one day they will have to make the executive decisions.
However; the public school system is going about it in the wrong way. It’s engraving
a terrible message into young teenagers’ minds. My mother, a high school
counselor at a Loudoun County Public School, has made it more than clear that
she is against our midterm exams, knowing that “they hurt more than they help”.
Yes, college is important and exams are a big deal, but if a kid can’t pass
their midterm and hinders their GPA, they won’t get there. Midterm exams should
no longer be mandatory across America. Those who believe they need a semester
exam should be provided with such from any and all teachers available. As for
the rest of the student body, they should be able to salvage what is left of
their grade. If you had to do it over, would you?
