Should students be required to take finals this semester?

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The 2020-21 school year has been very difficult for many students and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many students are feeling overwhelmed trying to manage schoolwork while trying to maintain good health and being safe. Every year around the end of December, finals take place, and students are overwhelmed with stress trying to maintain good grades, however, as a result of the pandemic this year has been very different and with this, finals have changed for this school year and are now even more stressful. With everything going on in students’ lives this school year, I believe that the right thing to do is for finals to not be required this semester with some exceptions.

Westside High School has now announced the dates of the finals and the exact information about it. The finals for the fall semester are going to be taken place on January 25-29, 2020. It has just been told that the finals are going to be 10% of student’s grades rather than 25%. As you can see the finals have little impact on student’s grades however Westside has still chosen to have mandatory finals. As a student at Westside High School, I believe that this is a big problem and our school is obviously not thinking of what’s in our best interest. As a student who has been impacted by covid 19, this year has been very hard and I have lost family members to the virus. Many students have to work because of their family losing income, many students have to take care of their siblings, and many students have even had coronavirus. When creating finals specifically during this time, it adds stress that the student body does not need. So why are finals necessary this year?

All in all, I believe that finals should not be mandatory but I do think it should have an exception and this will be the perfect solution for all! Westside should not make finals mandatory but I do think it should have a rule/exception. I think that students who have an 85 or higher every cycle in a class should be given the exemption of taking that specific final. Students have been working hard this year and I believe their work should be rewarded and they don’t have to take the final for every class if they get an 85 or higher every cycle. For the people who get an 84 and lower, finals should be mandatory and the students have the opportunity to higher their semester grades. This is the perfect solution this semester and would be perfect for the staff members of Westside and most importantly the student body! This has so many positive advantages, that it is truly the best solution for students and can motivate students to work hard!