In a few short months, Northern Illinois University [NIU] will be overflowing with distant relatives, tear-stained parents and apprehensive students with a crisp Kaneland High School diploma in hand.

Seniors will spend the next upcoming months hastily applying for scholarships, preparing for prom and enjoying a relaxing spring break. In addition to these defining moments, seniors are currently required to endure final exams.

With a dwindling number of days left for the Senior Class of 2016, the concept of required finals is not beneficial for a number of reasons.

On the contrary to KHS’s policy, requiring seniors to take final exams Montgomery County– Maryland’s largest school system– decided in the fall of 2015 to scrap final exams. Several assessments throughout the semester replaced these exams.

In light of Montgomery County’s decision, Deborah Stipek, a professor and former dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, stated to the Washington Post, “I think it’s a great thing. Using shorter-term assessments over the semester — and a variety of strategies — all of that is very good practice.”

Thus, seniors at KHS should not be required to take final exams. A large majority of seniors in Advanced Placement [AP] courses do opt to take the state-issued tests in efforts to gain college credit. Preparation for these AP exams are time-consuming, and directly pertain to course curriculum taught throughout the entire year; therefore, requiring finals for seniors acts as another task for these studious students.

Why waste a senior’s time requiring them to take a class-issued test in light of studying for an exam that can potentially save them hundreds of dollars in college?  Additionally, the portion of seniors who do not participate in AP courses hastily work towards figuring out their post-graduation plans, which tends to be a long and puzzling process.

All members of the Senior Class have been working relentlessly for four years to attain a diploma, and the school district sees fit to requiring final exams as a last, unnecessary task.

Seniors need to be praised for their diligent, lengthy work. The Class of 2016 left their mark on the community; not only did these students push for the B96-sponsored homecoming dance, but these students, both individually and holistically, earned various awards that improved the image of KHS.

With college, or other post-high school plans, sharply imprinted into these excited, adolescent minds, finals prove a heavy, unnecessary burden on their priority list. These tests only cause more stress during a period of studying for AP exams, figuring out their futures, and focusing on continuing to make a lasting impact on this community.