Re-testing is a failing policy
Villanova shouldn’t have been crowned National Champions last year. Not because they weren’t the best, but because North Carolina wasn’t given the opportunity for a do-over after Kris Jenkins’ winning shot. And that wasn’t fair.
Maybe the Tar Heels were too euphoric after nailing an incredible game-tying shot with 4.7 seconds left. Maybe they didn’t get back on defense. Or maybe they just assumed that, as the nation’s most storied team, they were predestined to win in overtime.
But whatever the reason, they deserved the chance to correct their mistakes.
Right? Don’t laugh. That’s becoming the new American reality.
No, we don’t have re-dos in sports. Yet. But they can’t be far off, given that the exact same mentality — getting an automatic do-over whenever a result isn’t to our liking — has been creeping into our schools. Proponents of so-called “request to retest,” where students continually take tests on the same material until they’re satisfied, are warping an entire generation. Instead of teaching our children timeless lessons — life is a series of pass/fail tests, and actions have consequences — we are instead sending them out the door with massively unrealistic expectations and, by extension, dooming them to failure.
It seems that small, but vocal, groups of entitled parents are front and center in pushing re-testing, along with school administrators either hell-bent on social engineering, or appeasers trying to placate the loudmouths.
And why? Several reasons, but all rooted in entitlement: “Since I’m paying high school taxes, my kid should damn well be entitled to good grades.” Or, “I pay teachers’ salaries, so that entitles me to not lift a finger. Educating my kid is the teacher’s job, and if Johnnie comes home with a bad grade, it’s the teacher’s fault.” Or even, “This is America, where we’re entitled to have things handed to us — without putting in any blood, sweat and tears to earn it.”
No matter the reason, re-testing sends the unmistakable message that repercussions for not prioritizing school have gone out the window.
When school officials implement re-testing, human nature dictates that students will make a mockery of the system.
Hell, there have already been cases where students request retests — before the first test has even been given!
And why the need to re-test? Sickness? Extenuating circumstances at home? Nope. It’ll be for much more “important” reasons: The ballgame was on; binge-watching Netflix; had an appointment with my personal sports trainer; got stoned; and, surely, most common: I just didn’t feel like studying. Fact is, students don’t need a reason, because re-testing will soon become second-nature.
Re-testing is an innately unfair system, penalizing those who do things the right way. How is it fair to attentive students who do their homework and study for a test, only to see some classmates bomb with a smile?
Fortunately, re-testing is not in every school (yet), so people have an opportunity to demand that such policies be avoided, rescinded, or, at the least, qualified.
We have become a society where “everyone gets a trophy.” Individual achievements are whitewashed so as not to hurt feelings.
Far be it for a student to be top in the class, as that is deemed “unfair.” There’s a term for mandating equality: communism. And all along I thought we beat the Soviets.
The longer-term effect is more chilling: A dysfunctional generation, expecting everything, yet prepared for nothing.
When faced by that thing called The Real World, they respond dismally without the benefit of their crutch. And college graduates, expecting six-figure salaries, find themselves adrift, lost because of an inability to cope with life’s challenges after discovering that the “trophy days” are over.
Life is a series of tests, passing or failing in your job, sports, marriage, as a parent, and yes, in school.
But those lessons are being sidelined in favor of artificial “victories,” without regard for the devastating effect they are having on our children.
Re-testing earns an “A” only in breeding massive resentment and incapacitating our children. It’s time we give re-testing the failing grade it deserves. And on that, we need no re-test.