“Should Regents be Cancelled this Year?”

This year has definitely been crazy (to say the least). Last March, I would have never thought that I would be sitting in my bed while taking tests. But is this the best way to learn? Are we really getting as much out of our classes as we would if we were sitting behind desks with teachers circling the room? Obviously due to the CoronaVirus, hybrid learning has definitely been the best way to keep us all safe, but is the overall quality of learning the same? Personally, I think it would be easier to learn if we were all in the same place. Teachers and students wouldn’t be constantly shifting gears. There wouldn’t be the back and forth of “Hold on, let me check on the virtual students!” or the chorus of “Tom? Are you there Tom? Hello, Tom?” coming from a teacher talking to a blank screen.

This constant push and pull leads me to an even scarier question: Should Regents be taking place this school year?

Midterms were already cancelled, I agree with that decision. The first half of the year flew by, and we were all still adjusting to our new learning environment. I know that if I had taken midterms this year, I do not think I would have done as well as if it were a normal year. I do not think that being hybrid made all things learning worse, but I do think it took a while to adjust. The pacing of curriculum was slowed, there were new learning strategies and methods tested through virtual platforms, and students had to discipline themselves while attending school from home.

Now with the end of the year coming up, all eyes are focused on the possibility of the other big tests: Regents. The importance of Regents cannot be stressed enough for high school students in New York. If you fail a Regents exam, you have to keep taking it until you pass it. You can’t just forget about it, or start fresh with a new unit like with your typical class tests. Regents exams are also a lot harder, in my opinion, than typical tests and midterms because they contain information that you learned throughout the whole year. Many of the Regents are also necessary for graduation, including the ELA Regents and several math, science, and social studies exams.

Even with all of the hard work that students and teachers did this year, I do not think I learned as much as I would have if I were in the building, focused every day. There are distractions at home. You cannot ask questions or participate in class as easily from home either. It’s just a different year. Even if we went back to school full-time soon, we have missed valuable learning time that we cannot get back. We’ve all worked hard and worked differently, but the learning has not been the same. Students are just not as prepared for Regents exams this year as we were in past years, before Covid. This is why we cannot, without a doubt, successfully attempt to take and pass Regents exams like we have in years before. If the state were to enforce these tests, it would be to the detriment of every student, teacher, and district throughout the state. This does not mean teachers cannot give end of the year exams that may mimic certain Regents exams; we can still prove that we learned something while at home and in hybrid situations. But to hold everyone accountable on state tests like the state would on a typical year is just irresponsible, inconsiderate, and simply impossible.