The first thing that most students wonder when putting down their pencils and breathing a sigh of relief after finishing a test is: what did I get on this?! After putting in immense amounts of effort into writing essays, putting together projects, and studying for tests, there is nothing more frustrating and stressful than the feeling of waiting and waiting before knowing results. Essays that aren’t graded for months and tests that are returned two weeks later leave students feeling nothing other than anxiety and discomfort.

Students don’t have unlimited amounts of time to take or study for an exam, so why should teachers be able to take as much time as they please to grade our assignments? It is unfair and simply illogical. It is understandable that teachers have their own lives outside of school, teach multiple classes, and have numerous duties as a teacher at Ramaz. However, students also have many classes, overwhelming amounts of work, and lives outside of school — well, sometimes. 

Teachers should have exactly one week to grade an assignment. If a test, assignment, or essay is not graded within a week, each additional day after that, students should be awarded an extra point until the assignment is returned. Life happens, and things take time—I get that. Therefore, it is okay to take a lengthy time to grade; we will just receive points in exchange for our anxiety while waiting for our grades. 

Just as the new makeup policy this year penalizes students for taking a test late, teachers should be penalized for taking an extended period of time to grade a test or assignment. Many teachers will simply not accept a late assignment at all. This seems unfair when that same assignment is returned three weeks later to students who handed it in on time. If teachers can take three weeks to grade then why can’t students turn in work after the deadline? No more anticipation or waiting—we want our grades! If students must do the assignment within a certain amount of time, teachers should have the same constraint for grading.