Every student goes through three grueling years before they reach the allegedly “awesome” senior year. Senior year comes with some nice benefits such as senior releases, prom and most importantly the famous Senior Exemption. However, the exemption policy has discrepancies from district to district. Some schools allow for juniors to receive these exemptions and while Plano West holds their seniors to higher standards to obtain these exemptions other high schools allow for an easier arrangement. It is important that the exemption policies stay strictly for seniors and remain relatively hard to receive or else it takes the value from the reward.
Everything in life is about seniority. The longer you work at something, the more perks come with the job. High school works this exact way. Everyone starts at the bottom of the pyramid as a freshman and slowly move their way up to the top as a senior. It is unfair that sophomores and juniors are given the same privileges as seniors who have been working for four years. It is also unfair that certain independent school districts are held to a much lower standard while Plano West still makes it relatively hard to achieve the exemption policy. Also, testing is an important indicator in student achievement and academic understanding. It is a crucial part of the learning process. In order to exempt sophomores and juniors from exams is to deny them more learning opportunities and the mastering of a subject.
Celina ISD and Frisco ISD maintain more lax rules for their students concerning the ability to receive the exam exemptions. While Plano ISD requires its students to maintain an average grade of 85, these two districts simply require their students to receive a mark of 70 percent. In certain high schools in Frisco ISD the administrators even extend the exam exemptions to the sophomores, and all that is asked of them is to get commended scores on all their TAKS tests. These regulations are very easily achieved, in my opinion, and make the reward of no exams less satisfying. However, most districts hold students to the same behavioral and attendance status. Districts across the board require that students have fewer than three or four absences and maintain outstanding citizenship. Most districts do not offer exemption to students who have received ISS, OSS, Saturday school, or disciplinary academic education program. Students must also have outstanding conduct. Administrators will not accept a student’s exemption if they have received an evaluation as “Needs Improvement” (N) or “Unsatisfactory” (U).
It is important that students take pride in making it through four years of high school. Senior exemptions should serve as an incentive for students to work hard and strive for good grades. The policies for exemptions should not be easily accomplished, because these rewards should not benefit the lazy.
