Since the first day of school students have been learning information in each of their classes and soon are going to be tested over everything. Right after Christmas break is finals week and many students are already stressing out. Almost all the other schools in our area have finals before Christmas break and then get to relax over Christmas, which is why Pleasant Valley should do the same.
Years ago Pleasant Valley did have finals before Christmas break and it worked out very nice for students. A former Pleasant Valley student, Josh Docherty, stated “When we had finals before break, we could actually enjoy Christmas without having the thought of finals in the back of our minds.” Some teachers don’t hand out review guides during Christmas break so students can enjoy break, but that also stresses them out because they feel like they should be doing something in order to prepare.
Another reason why finals should be before Christmas break is it gives students a sense of accomplishment and they can use break as their reward. Having studying for hours and taking 5 finals or more can be exhausting and a week break can be nice for students to just relax. Abby Meyers, current senior, stated “Right after we take our finals all we get is a weekend with no homework and then we start right back up with new classes the following Monday. I think we should have a bigger break than that.”
Mike Zimmer, principal, stated “PVHS cannot schedule the minimum of hours/days required to grant a semester worth of credit before winter break”. The Iowa Law requires schools to have 180 days worth of school days. Zimmer also stated “ PVHS makes every attempt to create balanced semesters as close to 90 days as possible. This year was very difficult to balance and we ended up with an 88 day 1st semester and a 92 day 2nd semester”.
Many people think a simple solution to this is to started the school year earlier. Due to legislation passed in 2015, schools cannot start school any earlier than Aug. 23, which means in order to keep the semesters balanced, finals week would have to be after Christmas break.
This year was even more difficult because of the snow day in November. This snow day was added to the end of the year (June 5), and now creates an even more unbalance to the semester causing a 87/93 unbalance.
Due to all the stress finals cause on students legislation should take this into consideration and try their hardest to have a sooner start date of school so finals can fall before Christmas break in order to make it easier for students.
