As a sophomore in high school, I am told to sit back and do what I am told under an enormous amount of pressure, while still keeping an A average. Although at this moment it is important that we speak up when our education is failing like it is now. We are being taught to finish our assignments just to get it over with, not retaining anything. Which is why we need to cancel exams for the 2020-2021 school year. When I reached out to officials they replied with "these exams give officials valuable information.." or "This requirement has been in place in some form under federal law since 1994." All of these lose their credibility since we are not reviving the same education and the quality of the little education we are receiving is significantly lower than ever. With all this considered it should be enough to be exempt from exams this semester, not only with a pandemic on top of the lack of education but the enormous amount of stress that has come with it. It is not unreasonable to ask that we as people, our mental and physical health, are considered in decision making. When reaching out to the Security DeVos (head of the US Board of Education), I was given the quote "We must use data to guide our decision-making." Which is on their part stubborn, we are not data we are human beings, it is about time officials take that into account when they make decisions that affect us. While this may seem like a reach, we have support from people in power that agree that it is unfair to expect our best under these circumstances. By signing this petition, we are working together to exempt High Schoolers from 2020-2021 exams or until we can go back fully in-person. 

(Photo from; Kumar s, P. (n.d.). Sign the Petition. Retrieved from https://www.change.org/p/yogi-adityanath-no-exams-during-covid-19 Accessed Oct. 16, 2020)