Ditch graduation requirement linked to MCAS: vote ‘yes’ on Question 2

Do you ever think about why the MCAS, a statewide standardized test in Massachusetts, is so high-stakes? For the past six years, I’ve wondered that. When I was in the middle of my eighth-grade year, taking the MCAS, I asked my teacher what would happen if I failed.

He said, “In high school if you don’t pass the MCAS you will be unable to graduate.” From that point forward, I began to worry about what would happen if I failed.

I do not think the MCAS should be the sole judge of someone’s intelligence, worth, and readiness to graduate high school. My brother told me when he was in this very high school sixteen years ago, students were also scared of taking the MCAS and failing. “Some of my friends were crying in the bathrooms just because they had failed the MCAS.” They thought if they couldn’t pass the MCAS, they not only wouldn’t graduate, but they might not earn a good enough score on the SAT. Think of how many students have felt this fear and panic over the decades during which this test has been required.

Now this question about whether people should have to pass the MCAS to graduate is on a statewide ballot question where voters will weigh in. According to the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts (CSPA), ‘to graduate from a public high school in Massachusetts, students need to meet the requirements of their local school district and also receive a “competency determination” from the state. The most common way to get a diploma is to pass high school classes and pass the tenth-grade MCAS.

Voters can say that they think the state should keep this requirement, but if question 2 passes, they can argue that students would not need to earn a passing score or get another state approval to graduate. Schools would set their own standards for graduation, which in Massachusetts I know would still be very high. This is why i urge you to vote yes on question 2.

Who is in support of passing question 2? Local teachers’ unions believe that teachers and schools can do an excellent job of preparing students. According to CSPA, they also say that most students are already meeting either district standards or other state standards. There are fewer than 1 percent of students who are not meeting one of these standards, said CSPA.

Opponents say it will “lower standards and schools can slip through cracks.” But I disagree. High school is hard enough as it is. Many students are enrolled in honors or AP classes and on top of that they have to take multiple standardized tests to show what they are supposedly learning. And if they are not good test takers, all the hard work they have done will feel like a waste.

Some students who come into the high school are from another country and speak English as a second language. These students are also at a disadvantage. They have to learn not only English for every day and academic use, but have to practice the language as it is used on a standardized test. If they are doing really well in a new school, in a new country, and receiving good grades, and they do badly on the MCAS, they will think that they are dumb or inferior to students who did pass the MCAS. The opposite is true. They are working hard and should be supported rather than punished.

Giving the MCAS to these students is not only ridiculous; it is cruel.

Making MCAS non-mandatory for graduation will not only benefit students but teachers as well. I feel like every time I hear a teacher speak about a certain topic I don’t just focus on the information they are saying but how they say it.

Some teachers whom I’ve had over the years teach us so many new things but yet when I look at their faces they seem down or unmotivated to teach the topic. I know some of these teachers would prefer to teach something else in the time they have with us. Although I know they can’t teach us anything they want, I know that if they were encouraged to be creative in their teaching methods rather than worrying about a standardized test, there would be many more passionate students.

Although some people score lower than others on the MCAS doesn’t mean they won’t leave high school and do great things in life. MCAS doesn’t determine the person you will become when you leave high school. MCAS doesn’t limit the greatness you can achieve out in the real world.

In my opinion, it’s time to stop using the MCAS to hurt students in Massachusetts. It’s time to vote yes.