Beginning of the End: Students’ and teachers’ stance on finals

By Hannah Stephens

When COVID-19 hit students here in Tulare County, schools were forced to shut down and students were placed online for further schooling. With this being done, much of what was a normal atmosphere and a healthy balance was completely thrown off throughout the year.

Now, being back in-person, students are having their first finals while being back on campus and in-person. Some teachers believe students are ready, while others believe more adjustments are needed. On the other hand, some students are fully prepared, while others are barely keeping it together. There are a lot of thoughts and opinions surrounding this.

When speaking to Mr. Cazares, a History and Law teacher here at Redwood, he had a lot to say about upcoming finals.

I asked if he thought that students were prepared and he said, “No, the reason is I’ve had students tell me that they don’t know what’s going on, that mentally, they’re not here because of the pandemic. Some of their teachers are treating it as if nothing changed and many have told me they just feel really overwhelmed. I think they could do it but they haven’t been given the skills to.”

This is very true and I think some teachers forget the drastic changes we all experienced in the last two years. The pandemic is going to play a huge part in the results of finals this year and hopefully, adjustments are made so that the success rate is higher.

When talking about his feelings towards finals this year, Cazares stated, “I feel like finals are not as vital or important this year. I think the data is going to be very skew mainly because we use finals not just for a grade but also for a review if students have gotten certain things. I think the finals were put on us very last minute, I know that we didn’t know about the final until the middle of November. This can be a lot for some teachers… imagine you’re teaching Biology and all of the sudden you’re told we are doing a final, I think it could’ve been kind of a sideswipe for some teachers.”

For students, it is very clear that this is a stressful time, but for teachers is it just as stressful?

Cazares says, “I think it depends on the teacher and it depends on how much weight they put on the final. I’m not nervous about the final because I helped write it, so I know what to expect. I think it stresses teachers out if they let it stress them out.”

Along with this, Cazares said, “I think it’s extremely stressful for students because it’s all over the place and they don’t know what the final is going to be weighted as. I think that stress affects our physical health. You have students staying up all night catching up, and emotionally, you create an energy of disconnect.”

“I think admin, staff, and teachers need to work together and come from a place of understanding,” adds Cazares.

When it comes to students however, I think there is a lot of stress surrounding finals and how much it will weigh down their grades. When interviewing junior student, Seth Lopez, I got a lot of insight on how others are feeling towards these intimidating tests.

“I’m not that worried about finals this year, my grades aren’t that close to failing and I don’t think it’s going to determine how I do this year,” says Lopez.

As far as feeling prepared and ready, students still may need more time and support from teachers. Lopez stated, “I think I still need some extra work and extra help, but besides that, throughout the year, I feel like my teachers have been preparing me.”

He goes on to say, “Me, personally, I feel like I am somewhat ready for finals, but as a whole, I feel like everyone’s still not there yet… no one likes the final.”

When speaking about the pandemic and how it has affected students, Lopez said, “Being off that one year made it challenging to get back into the swing of things. I think being back though, gives me a better grasp on education and is going to help me with finals this year. I feel like as long as tests are only on what was taught this year, there would be no issue, but if they test on things from the previous year, our grades are going to suffer.”

Although finals have been in place since the beginning of time, I firmly believe there are other, less intimidating ways, of getting the knowledge needed to see how students are doing. Lopez claims, “I feel like finals should just be like another test. They shouldn’t be like a certain percentage of your grade.”

Overall, I think there is a lot of stress surrounding finals this year and there are many ways to improve and lighten the workload of students. I believe that teachers and staff should start preparing and getting students ready now in advance so that we have the skills needed to pass.

Finals have always been a difficult time for students and teachers, with the circumstances this year though, those feelings are heightened.

Redwood High School’s finals begin Wednesday, December 15. Finals for periods 1 and 2 will take place then, periods 3 and 4 on Thursday, and 5 and 6 Friday.

Tags: finals, opinion, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, rhs, student perspective, teacher perspective