Re-Testing Is Not A Right
By Chris Freind 
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, including some in Delaware County. 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.
Let’s look at retesting’s negative impacts on teachers, parents, and, most of all, students:
1. 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.
2. 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 re-tests — before the first test has even been given! Talk about a slap in the face to teachers who have invested so much time in planning lessons, instructing the class, and creating tests to measure students’ mastery of material over a given period.
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.
3. As part of their job, most teachers must be available to students outside of classroom hours. Truth is, many regularly exceed this requirement because of their innate desire to help children — the very reason they chose teaching. They are voluntarily working overtime for free, but re-testing negatively changes that equation, akin to smashing a gift horse in the mouth.
Instead of spending that extra, personal time with students, teachers would be forced to cut back. Re-test after re-test would have to be created, since offering the same test — where answers from the first go-round could be memorized — would be an insult to a teacher’s dignity. Yet that’s exactly what has occurred, as some students, confident that they aced the re-test, in fact bombed it because the teacher had the “nerve” to change the order of the questions! It’s bad enough that students think they deserve a re-do, but to be so arrogant as to expect the same test shows just how out of touch they are.
Bottom line: Teachers’ time both after school and at home will be consumed with creating and grading countless re-tests, to the detriment of daily lessons and one-on-one interactions, all because some students, and their clueless parents, think they automatically warrant unlimited chances.
4. 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? Knowing that others can get unlimited cracks at the material is demoralizing to diligent students, and will ultimately lead them to conclude, “If others aren’t studying but eventually get the same grade, why should I put in all that effort?”
Being just as lazy as the next guy because there’s no incentive to do your best is the quickest way for a society to collapse.
5. And how is it fair when some schools re-test and other don’t? So if two eighth-graders are competing for limited slots at a private high school, and only one enjoyed a re-testing policy, then, by definition, the other is at a distinct disadvantage. Ditto for high school seniors trying to impress colleges. Obviously, those with better grades, courtesy of an “I-can’t-fail” policy, will have a huge leg up. Will they crash and burn upon the realization that their fake education hasn’t prepared them, and that other entities don’t give second chances? Absolutely. But that’s no solace to those who got shafted.
6. Re-testing isn’t limited to those who perform poorly. Grade-grubbers craving the 4.0 can take full advantage, re-testing until they hit the 100 mark. If applied across all subjects, that means that a perfect GPA can be achieved every year. Hyperinflated, artificial (and ultimately meaningless) grades, to be sure, but from the perspective of high schools and colleges, it would be a perfect GPA nonetheless.
7. 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. For example, rules could stipulate one re-test only, and taken within one day of the original test; the final grade would be an average of the two tests (incentivizing against bombing the first one); if the re-test results in a lower grade, that would be the one counted; all classwork and homework must be completed prior to the original test or no re-test is permitted; and parents must be notified that their child is re-testing.
Short of abolishing re-testing, common sense reforms to open-ended testing should be mandated.
We have become a society where “everyone gets a trophy.” Individual achievements are whitewashed so as not to hurt feelings. Everyone and everything must be homogenized, a “spread the wealth” mentality whereby accolades are doled out not by merit, but by who hasn’t won yet. 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. Business suffers as jobs are outsourced to those not expecting entitlements. 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.
Re-Testing Is Not A Right
