The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
Valdosta State University will no longer require its students to pass the Regents Exam, beginning this fall.
Earlier this semester, VSU obtained the approval of the Board of Regents to exempt the exam that has, over the years, caused students so much stress.
After the final exams this spring, students will only be required to pass English 1102 instead of both the reading and the writing portions of the Regents Test, according to the Office of Academic Affairs.
“We have been working on getting this exemption since last fall and are glad to get the approval of the Board of Regents,” Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Sheri Gravett, said.
In the past, students who failed the exam were forced to retake it until they passed, and many have had to take Regents training courses to assist them even further in passing it.
This, in turn, conflicts with their set graduation track, prolonging their college career. The goal of the Regents exemption is to make it easier for students to excel by not having to take the exam at all.
“It is just one more way we are ‘dumbing’ down the school system in Georgia,” junior English major, Anna Lowther, said. “Since we were forced to take it, it is only fair that future students should have to take it too.”
Students who met certain academic standards in the past were able to exempt the Regents Exam, and there will be similar opportunities for such students to exempt English 1102 as well.
More information about the particulars of these exemptions is expected to surface later in the semester.
Also effective in the fall will be specialized training classes offered for those that need extra help getting through English 1102.
“VSU is not the only school who has sought out Regents exemption,” Gravett said. “At least half of the schools in our system have either implicated or are in the process of implicating exemptions of their own.”
Students who are currently signed up for the Regents Test or enrolled in Regents training classes for this semester are encouraged to continue.
Why don’t we just let prospective students write a check so the university can print off a degree? That would save time as well and not prolong the educational experience.