You never asked for my thoughts on finals, but I’m here to let you know.

As high school students, we all expect to be loaded with stress before and during finals. It’s almost like the stress of finals comes with the territory of being in high school.

But, I just simply do not understand the thought behind finals. To me, it goes hand in hand with the idiocy of standardized tests. A formal “fill in the bubble” test is not a true indication of a student’s knowledge and understanding of the topics they’ve learned over the semester. Yet so often, students feel that finals and standardized tests are the things that define them most.

The fact of the matter is, no letter nor number should be what defines as us students or people. Our qualities and character traits are what define us and make us who we are. Traits such as work ethic, the ability to work with others, determination, and trustworthiness matter a lot more to most employers than the grade you received on your Humanities final.

Thankfully, some teachers understand the uselessness of finals and opt for more realistic “final,” such as making a portfolio of the work you’ve done all semester and reflecting on it, or spending the class period in an enriched discussion about a broad topic of the semester.

Beyond feeling defined by their final grades, students feel incredibly stressed at this time of year. My question is: what is the point? Our mental health never seems to be put as a priority at school, when, quite honestly, it should be at the top of the list. It feels like teachers don’t realize we have six other classes and finals, or maybe they just don’t care…

There are a lot better ways to test a student’s understanding, and it’s just a matter of time before the school system realizes that. It’s time to make students feel like they are more important than a grade, and to remind them to put their mental health first sometimes.