Should finals be worth as much of our grade this semester?

While the new normal takes place, every aspect of student lives are not normal. While hybrid 50/50 is active with its strengths and flaws, large increments of students switched to 100% online in November and early December. Was going to the school worth socializing? Or did students switch because they felt they could get the same out of school online versus in person?

Learning has been tougher this year overall period. Students unable to communicate directly to their classmates/peers nor their teachers can make understanding material that much more difficult. Taking tests and completing assignments is not the same. Tests are designed differently, and can be too restrictive or not restrictive enough.

One of two complications with finals this year is based on how well students have been educated this year. Finals are already strenuous and require much studying and preparation. Finals covers all the knowledge of the semester. With the odd discourse of learning platforms this year, students may not have gained as much thorough knowledge as finals demand. Making finals count for the usual amount of points is not necessarily fair.

Online yields different methods of understanding and learning. Though teachers do their best to confine those methods, what happens at home can’t always be controlled. When you are in your own workspace and the camera can only hear and see so much, many gaps are left unguarded.

While teachers promote academic integrity, eluding those standards is common. Two of two complications deals with honesty.

While there are scholars who will bide by the rules of academic integrity and cheating, who knows how many will not? That puts those who do comply at a disadvantage while those who do not at an advantage. What makes it unfair is no matter how compact teachers make the boundaries of academic integrity, they will not be able to tell who is doing as they’re told. Those that follow the rules may feel obligated to do otherwise because sooner or later, they will realize the drawback.

The uneven balance makes for unfair advantages, and for finals to count for as many usual points won’t define the grades students really deserve.

So no, finals should not be worth as much of our grade this semester. Students on the whole, for the most, are not occupied with superlative education and compilers versus the unlike conducts for unjust exam scores.