by Ashley Yen ’14

Final exams test what we have learned in a semester. A question to think about is how long are we going to retain this information after the final exam? Do students learn to gain knowledge for themselves because they are interested or are they learning just to pass the test? These questions can be answered by most students. Many things we learn in class are in our minds for short amounts of time, usually for a semester or two. Some teenagers nowadays don’t care about any of the classes that we take. They are only interested in a few. In the MCPS curriculum, however, we are required to take a certain amount of a variety classes as a graduation requirement. There is much apathy among students’ in many classes, which shows when they are falling asleep and not paying attention. If students were able to choose more classes that they are interested in, they could apply the information outside of school and retain it. If we, as students were more motivated to learn, for something more than just passing an exam, we would be able to be more successful in our respective futures and career paths.