As we plough through the remainder of the second semester here at Palo Alto High School with the promise of spring in the air, many of us, I am sure, are feeling a little too relaxed. One of the only main motivations to senior students is the omnipresent threat of getting rescinded (when a college acceptance is revoked). The implementation of an additional incentive to put more effort into our studies would prove beneficial for both the students and staff.

At many other schools in the area, including Saint Francis High School, seniors are exempt from second semester finals on a class-by-class basis, provided that they have earned an ‘A’ grade by the end of the grading period. According to Saint Francis senior Maria Lesieutre, seniors with grades of 89.5 percent or above are exempt. Furthermore, Advanced Placement classes do not administer finals at Saint Francis.

“I think it [the policy] is a great way to be motivated second semester because it gives you incentive to care about your classes,” Lesieutre said.

Paly Principal Phil Winston has expressed interest in the policy but anticipates problems it may have.

“It would take a lot of conversation to work through a lot of the unintended details or consequences but I’m not shying away from it,” Winston said.

Paly economics teacher Debbie Whitson agrees that this policy could work for Paly as well.

“I think that’s an innovative thought, and an incentive to keep kids working and not think ‘oh we can bail it out at the end,’” Whitson said.

Paly math teacher David Baker has noticed behavioral changes in second semester seniors.

“I’ve seen that second semester seniors often go through a little bit deeper of a third quarter slump,” he said. “I think for some students that [the policy] might be the motivation to excel, for some it might not make a difference.”

A notable drawback to the policy that may concern teachers is that some students would still have to take a final while others would not.

“They [teachers] are going to have half a class that needs to prepare for a final and the other half that doesn’t need to take it,” Whitson said. “So if kids are done, what are they doing when everyone else is reviewing?”

In classes with students of different years, issues with grading inconsistencies could arise. Baker teaches a combined junior and senior math class and agrees that juniors might consider the policy unfair treatment.

“I think you’d have to give juniors the same deal to keep it fair,” he said.

Allocating review time between students taking the final and students exempted the final would not be as much of a problem, however, because seniors generally take finals earlier than juniors, sophomores and freshman due to graduation planning.

Winston also expressed concern that if courses did not have a final exam, they would not qualify for the status of a University of California accepted course. According to the UC guidelines, a course fails to meet honors requirements if it does not include a “comprehensive written final exam.” This would not be an issue for non-honors courses.

“It’s an interesting idea, I’ve never heard of it before,” senior Jessica Jin said. “We’d have to implement it to see how it would work but it seems promising.”