by Kyra Cooperman ’19, Staff Writer

We’re just over a month into the 9-month school year and midterms are already here. For the entire school, the last assignments before midterm grades can be quite a panic. Making up for that test on which you didn’t do your best, to put it lightly, can lead to a lot of pressure. At the end of the year, your grades do not include the midterms, so why is it that so many NA students feel pressured to bump up their grade? As Maria Armas ’18 put it, “Newark Academy places high expectations on their students, and parents also contribute to the stress by expecting really high grades.” The amount of pressure that students feel is mostly personal and based on their expectations for themselves, but the high standard of Newark Academy naturally creates a community with some stress when grades are involved.

New freshman Gabby Neibart disagrees and says, “I’m not nervous for midterms because I want to see how I’m doing, so that I can do better and know whether or not I should start to work a lot harder.” Gabby’s opinion follows the philosophy of midterms, which is to allow students to know how they are doing in class and how they can improve.

It isn’t just grades that come with midterms, but also comments. Most teachers at Newark Academy teach 4 or 5 slots, with an average of 14 students each, which means they have more than 55 comments to write. With all of the last minute assignments to be graded, and the comments that need to be written, it seems like the teachers should feel more stress than the students. The students and their families understand the thought that goes into each comment. Humanities teacher Ms. Schottland discusses her thoughts on comments and says, “As a teacher, I want to best synthesize and encapsulate my impressions of a student’s progress for the benefit of the student.” She confirms the philosophy that the entire purpose of midterms is for you, the student! Teachers at Newark Academy try their best to make sure that everyone succeeds, which means receiving feedback. The comments that teachers write are very genuine and it is important that students pay attention to the notes made and try to adapt if needed.

The truth is, midterms are only here to help, and nobody should feel stressed out. The Newark Academy environment encourages everyone to do their best, but the way that you feel about midterms is likely a personal decision. And Ms. Schottland sums up everyone’s feelings about midterms best by saying, “Of course here at NA, there is a bottom line: the grade. But really, it is the development of skills and acquisition of information that is at the heart of any educational experience. Not to mention, the love of learning, and for me, the love of teaching that is most important!”