FINAL EXAMS PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE

Central High School's Renaissance program has established itself as a worthwhile effort to encourage excellence and pride among students and staff. The program also has gone a long way in connecting high school students to the community around them. In its effort to encourage students to strive for perfect attendance as well as good grades, it is successfully making a dent in two key areas that are vital to the success of any high-quality education program.

Recently, several hundred of the high school's students earned a day of special activities and the opportunity to skip final exams because of their achievements in attendance and grades. They will have another opportunity for another day of incentives at the end of the current semester. But beginning next year, all students likely will be required to take finals, because of the recognition of the importance of test-taking.

Some parents or grandparents of high school students might recall that during their high school and college years there were similar incentives, but in most cases the only way to avoid finals was to have an A grade average. Even then, many teachers and professors expected students to take finals in order to demonstrate overall comprehension of that semester's coursework.

It is good to promote good attendance -- the more a student is in class, the more learning can take place -- and good grades, and next year the high school will find other ways to do that. Overall, the spirit of the student body and its staff have benefited from the Renaissance efforts, and everyone involved is to be commended for their work.