The entire Nursing class of Neumann University (Freshman-Senior) are taking a stand together to fight for our right for the education we deserve. We are currently studying to become nurses, but are lacking the needs to succeed without our school board behind us.

To paint a picture of our education now, we are paying thousands of dollars a semester to teach ourselves (before COVID too), and are graded by 5 total exams ONLY. After taking exams we are not allowed to review our exams, as the school is worried about cheating. This seems to be contradicting as we had test reviews prior to COVID, and cheating was NOT an issue. We were to review in 15 minute slots, with no phone, limited on any notes, monitored by faculty, and could ONLY review our wrong answers. The answers were never given rationales. Now with COVID, the test reviews were taken away and we are given an automated report that tells us our areas we are weak in (very vague— ex: application, memorization.. etc). Yet, are STILL taking the exams in person, in school. So we cannot review in person, but we can test in person.

Cheating should NOT be an issue regardless where we test or review, as we are becoming NURSES. A nurse cannot cheat. A nurse cannot get through nursing school and pass the NCLEX by cheating their way through school. With COVID, we are sitting upstairs in houses full of yelling kids, barking dogs, and loud noises all around.. with earplugs in our ears to avoid distractions as we did in school. For us nothing has changed testing wise, but the fact we are home! We stand for RISES, here at Neumann, and at home.

In nursing school, we are taught (or should be taught) to think different and to think critically instead of regurgitating information. All students come into the field with various skill levels of critical thinking and will need guidance in developing these skills.

Not only that, we also need to learn how navigate the nclex. What are they really looking for in this question? Why is this answer a better answer than the other similar one?

Professors are humans too. What if they made a mistake in their own rationale but are not able to see it without the feedback from the students? What if the material they were teaching/testing on were incorrect or contraindicated with what was in the book?

There is a saying “Cs get degrees” and it’s truly not realistic to expect perfect knowledge, there will always be gaps knowledge. Tests help identify these gaps, and as students we get punished for those gaps but they don’t provide any interventions or rationales. How can we succeed without knowing WHERE we went wrong? What can we do in order to get the school board to hear us? 

We have been calling out for help since March 2020, and have not been granted any answers or shown any sincere concern for our need for more education. We want to LEARN, we are here to learn and be the TOP nurses that Neumann will forever be proud of. 

The students have reached out together to over 40 nursing schools regarding their reviews currently and they ARE reviewing still! Some are reviewing online on zoom with honor system, in person monitored by faculty or volunteers, in person one on one through meeting times, and also all together as a class after the exam has been submitted in order to get proper rationales and ask the necessary questions. We are suggesting to use the ideas from the schools we have reached out to, and come up with a plan that will allow for optional test reviews. We will be COVID safe!

Please, Neumann University hear us out!

— The Nursing Classes of Neumann!