Seniors in High School free essay sample

In recent years, there has been the debate on whether or not seniors should have to take finals. When most people were freshmen, seniors didn’t have to take finals if they met the requirements. When people were sophomores, seniors didn’t have to take finals if they met the requirements. When people were junior, seniors didn’t have to take finals if they met the requirements. Now those freshmen are now seniors, they have to take finals. Those freshmen, now seniors, had been looking forward to not taking finals at the end of their senior year. Now those hopes are crushed unless the policy is changed. It should be said that high school students should not be required to take finals in their senior year of high school with some requirements that have to be met to be exempted from finals. Seniors should not have to take finals because they have been in school for the past 12 years of their lives. We will write a custom essay sample on Seniors in High School or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The past four years especially should have prepared them for college. If students don’t prepare for school now, they’ll never be prepared for college. The people who procrastinate when they have homework in high school will procrastinate in college as well. Students will carry on their habits, whether they are good or bad, when they go to college. Students who have achieved an A before finals should be able to exempt from final exams in that class. They have already shown that they understand the material. Obtaining a good mark takes much more than testing. In order to get an A in a class, a student must demonstrate good work ethic throughout the entire semester, doing homework on a regular basis, paying attention diligently, and thoroughly understanding the material. While the studying and the final itself may reinforce the information, a high-scoring student has displayed that they already know it through consistent high marks. If the material has already been understood, taking the final could be seen as a mere waste of time. â€Å"If I’ve worked hard all semester to get good grades that I’ve already established I can earn, why should I have to further prove that by taking a final? † Amanda Zhang, a junior at LHS said† (Grom). The requirements weed out the people who should have to take finals. If the requirements are set to a high enough level, the people who need to take finals will have to take them. The people who meet these requirements have proved themselves that they know their material and one more test wouldn’t make a difference in how prepared they are for college. Most students believe the requirements for finals should be: No absences in May, no tardies/ISS/OSS, and a student’s lowest grade can’t be lower than a C. Gaining the privilege of not having to take the finals should be like a reward to the students who meet these requirements. People who are in favor of seniors taking finals who argue the following arguments: Taking finals would better prepare students for the rigors of college. College students say high school didn’t prepare them enough for college. All 12th graders should take finals regardless. Some seniors may develop â€Å"senioritis†, but then those seniors should have to take finals because they slacked off at the end of the year. The counter argument against â€Å"senioritis† is for the seniors who didn’t catch â€Å"senioritis,† they should be rewarded for not slacking off for the entire year. Before Walpole High School seniors leave in May, they have to make sure that their final grades for the second semester in each class are above an 80. Anything below an 80 for a class, even a dreaded 79, means they are required to take the final exam for that class. This can be a real drag for a senior that is ready to get out of high school for good. All the freshmen, soph omores, and juniors have to stay in school for over a month and a half more, while the seniors are out joy-riding and enjoying an early release from school. Seniors shouldn’t be the only students who are exempt from finals† (Heiberger). Taking finals would better prepare students for the rigors of college because it shows they have mastered their material and have proved it. As for the college students who say they aren’t prepared for college, they should’ve study harder and not procrastinated in school. Every 12th grader should take their finals regardless of their grades and squeaky clean records and perfect grades. It would better prepare them because they have proved that they have mastered their subjects. Not having final exams would be a radical change for any high school, but these tests would be unnecessary if students learned the material correctly the first time around. â€Å"If they worked harder to receive an A for whatever reason, they should be rewarded by their teacher acknowledging that they already know the material instead of making them prove that they know how to take a test. The absence of exams would not affect teachers, except for the fact that they would not have a huge pile of tests to grade after Christmas break or during those first few days of summer. Instead of pushing for memorization and recitation, they should be teaching information that can be understood and retained. Some people, no matter how knowledgeable they are in a subject, are simply not good test takers. Final exams are not always an accurate picture of what a student does or does not know due to the sheer volume of information that students are expected to memorize for each class† (Reilly). High school students, with exceptions, should not have to take finals. They have proved themselves in the 12 years they have been in school. They have really proven that shouldnt take finals in the last four years. With a list of requirements, the people who have proved themselves don’t have to worry about finals and then bomb the finals. Being exempted from finals should be treated as a privilege, not a right. The students would have to work hard all year to be granted this well-earned privilege. It should be like a gift for working hard for 12 years. This is why most students believe that seniors shouldnt have to take finals, with requirements, at the end of their high school career.