lara mentorship

This weeks blog topic is whether exams are necessary in high school or not. I believe that they are necessary to a certain extent. It used to be that anyone with an 80 average did not have to do the final exams. That system I agree with. I believe that if you have a grade above average then it is completely unnecessary to write the exam. Not everyone is good at tests and the exam counts for a lot of our final grade. Those who don't need the extra chance to improve their mark should not have to right the final exam. This way anyone who wishes to do the exam will and those who don't need it aren't bothered by it

Another reason I believe exams are unecessary is because I think that putting an entire semester into one test is very unreasonable and it sets very unrealistic expectations for students. For most, it is already difficult enough to write tests unit by unit. To mix in an entire semester which is 5 months long is even harder. What comes with all these expectations is stress. Students stress level go much higher around exam time. Students spend hours and hours studying. We study, lose sleep and stress over an exam that I don't believe will benefit us in the end. With already so many things to worry about near the end of the semester, the exams definately add on too much unnecessary stress. By the end of the semester teachers are rushing to finish lessons, projects and tests. To balance all that plus having to right exam reviews is a lot to handle.

Also, I believe that students don't actually learn much from writing an exam. Student's last minute try to memorize all the information for the exam. Nobody will learn anything through memorization. There must be a significant amount of understanding in order to succeed in school and no student will have any understanding if they memorize everything. I think that instead of exams students could write more assignments during the year or make the final project worth more. By writing assignments or projects they require research and through research students do the most learning. We learn through what we read and what we research. Personally I believe that I learn the most during my written assignments as oppose to the tests or exams.

Finally, I do not think it is fair to judge a student's intelligence from an exam. From personal experience, I know that a test does not reflect a single bit of my intelligence. I know that I am a fairly intelligent person but I do not test well. It is very discouraging receiving test after test with disappointing grades knowing that the mark will define my final mark. As a student it is hard not think that a teacher judges you based off of your marks. I found a quote that says, “Exams and grades are temporary but education is permanent.” (anonymous) I completely agree with this quote which is why I believe exams are unnecessary. I believe that there is more to a person's intelligence than how well they do on an exam. I spoke to Mrs. DiTullio about the subject and though she does have a different perspective than me I respect her opinion that exams are necessary and I understand her point of view.

All in all, I do not think exams are necessary in all circumstances because they are causing more negative effects than positive.