Recently, some students at Troy High School have been purposefully skipping class to avoid tests. While this practice does not technically break any rules when the student is properly excused, it has left faculty and students to feel frustrated and helpless, and raises the question of academic integrity. 

Assistant Principal Brian Zawislak says that the faculty at the school has heard about the problem with students failing to go to class on test days. Attendance Secretary Doreen Plochocki agrees with Zawislak, saying, “I am starting to see more kids this year than last year who are skipping classes for tests.” There seems to be an increasing trend. 

Senior Mananya Patel states, “I think that a lot of students skip on test days because they don’t feel prepared enough.” She goes on to mention another reason why this problem might occur, “Some students might still have questions but they might not want to ask the teacher.” Due to the lack of confidence that students might feel on test days, they might opt to take the test another time and skip that class for a day. Or, these students might be skipping test days to hear about how the test went from their friend so that they can figure out what they need to study more of, which is a breach of integrity. 

As a solution, Zawislak mentions, “I think that in order to maintain the integrity of what’s going on around here, I think that students should be in the classroom. When students skip and it’s unexcused, then there’s consequences for that too.” Taking into account the perspective of the students, he also states, “It’s not fair to the students that show up that day and take that test for another student to get extra time to prepare for it.”

Patel proposes another solution: “As much as the teachers don’t want us to skip, I feel like they should address this problem.” She also shares, “I think that it is okay to skip sometimes, but if it’s happening a lot then you should find ways to study differently.” 

Some students understand why others may skip tests, due to the stress and anxiety that face them (although many agree that tests should only be skipping in moderation). Faculty, on the other hand, seem to prefer that students take the tests when they are assigned. Patel favors a more middle ground solution whereas Zawislak prefers a stronger solution.

Whether people think that it is okay to skip a test or not, the bottom line is the harm that is created for the teachers’ tests, according to Zawislak. He states, “I think that’s what bothers the teachers the most. The academic integrity and the test security itself.”