This final exam season promises to be an especially challenging one. Given the tumultuous circumstances of the preceding weeks, many students will be taking final exams under added emotional and psychological stress. At a time when attention to current University policies are at an all-time high, it might be useful to examine the extent to which the University’s approach to final exams and feedback adheres to Jefferson’s original vision for the University. The current lack of any specific procedure pertaining to final exam review threatens to sustain an academic culture in which exams are viewed as ends in themselves, and not as a means to a broader end — namely, academic growth.
Given the amount of time University students devote to studying for final exams and composing final papers, it is rather upsetting that the administration does not officially require professors to return final exams or papers to students with comments, as they normally would with ordinary assignments over the course of the semester. Though students are technically allowed to visit professors’ office hours the following semester, there is no specific policy requiring professors set aside particular office hours at the beginning of the following semester to allow students to see their final exams and ask relevant questions. While some professors take the initiative of returning exams, the University should seek to establish a comprehensive policy on final exam feedback; such a policy would more closely align the administration of exams with the liberal arts mission of the University.
Though Jefferson’s ideal of the perpetuity of education is often touted, the practical realization of that concept is quite limited with respect to final exam feedback. The current culture surrounding final exams is one of completion, where the work and knowledge of the prior semester is quickly overlooked upon the conclusion of the semester. Given the highly stressful exam environment, it should not be surprising that this culture is both acceptable and appealing, to an extent. Though many if not all students here care deeply about their academic performance, that concern seems relatively limited to results and their relevance to future academic pursuits. While such concerns are perfectly valid in one sense, they simultaneously and perhaps unconsciously de-emphasize the virtue of lifelong education. A policy that would allow students to receive meaningful feedback on final exams would realize the original Jeffersonian ideals of lifelong learning and critical thinking. Moreover, such a policy might help students to further appreciate the learning process itself instead of the ultimate final course grades on their transcripts.
Though many current students might not be aware that they can email professors in order to see their graded final exams after they return from winter break, the prevailing culture of completion largely prevents such knowledge from being widely disseminated. Even for students who are acutely aware of such possibilities, some may become hesitant and apathetic about the academic results of the previous semester; when the culture surrounding final exams conceives of the process as, by and large, a race to the finish, it should not be surprising that after the finish, students may become fatalistic in their approach to exam results.
The University should require professors to return final exams with feedback, either in person at office hours or by email. For students in intro level classes, for whom feedback on a previous semester’s exams would have immeasurable value for future academic development, such a policy would be especially advantageous.
Though the temptation to forget about exams as soon the last final concludes is strong, especially in light of the academically draining environment that finals season tends to engender, students should see the value in having a definitive policy that would allow them to maximize their academic potential. Indeed, many students may already realize the value of asking professors for feedback on final exams but a new, comprehensive policy requiring such feedback could help to change the prevailing fatalistic culture that surrounds final exams. For students who were previously unaware of the possibility for feedback, or for those who might have been hesitant to ask for it, a new policy would be particularly beneficial.
Conor Kelly is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at c.kelly@cavalierdaily.com.
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