High school can be a very busy and stressful time, especially as the end of the year approaches and you have to take all your exams and other tests.

What would you do if your school offered some elective exams to earn college credit, but while they were technically optional, the principal said students who didn’t take them would be put on academic discipline?

That is what happened to the student in this story, so she asked why it was a requirement since she would rather focus on her other studies. When the principal ignored her inquiry, she directed teh question to the superintendent, but now the principal is upset about it and claims she is being emotional.

She just wants an answer to her question, which nobody seems willing to provide. Read through the details below and see what you think is happening at this school.

AITA for refusing to take an elective exam and “escalating” the situation to the School District?

I (a high school senior) am currently in a standoff with my school administration, and my Principal told me today that I “won’t be successful in college” because of how I’m handling this.

Every school handles things differently.

My school is pushing a program where students take a CLEP exam (for third-party college credit). This is an elective, non-mandated exam.

However, my school sent out a “Student Checklist” stating that if we miss the exam, we will be placed on Academic Probation. I asked around at other schools, and they weren’t taking this exam matter a fact even heard about it before.

If they didn’t answer her questions, she was right to go to the next level.

I am already taking a full load of AP classes. I would very much rather focus on studying for just my APs, since I’m already stressed about them.

When I asked for the policy justifying the “probation” threat, I got no answer. So, I emailed the District Superintendent’s office for clarification.

He has no way to diagnose this. And even if it is true, who cares?

Today, I was called into a meeting with the Principal, Assistant Principal, and my counselor.

Instead of discussing the probation policy, the Principal told me that I had testing anxiety (telling me I should speak to a social worker), that that’s why I don’t want to take the exam.

She seems to be pretty reasonable to me.

And that I’m being emotional by reaching out to the Superintendent and escalating it.

When I stated my opinion that students should be able to choose the college credits they wish to pursue.

This may be true in some cases, but certainly not all.

They proceeded to tell me that in the future, at workplaces or in college, I won’t get to choose what I do and don’t want to do, EVEN THOUGH the thing that I don’t want to do is an ELECTIVE EXAM that I have a choice of not doing!

Every time I tried to bring the conversation back to why academic probation was threatened in the checklist, they continued to tell me I was being emotional and talked about how much the test could help me.

I’m guessing the school gets some type of incentive for each student who passes the exam.

I ended up tearing up infront of them because of how much they were attacking my character instead of just explaining the rule.

My parents are on my side, but the school was acting like I’m being a “difficult” student for wanting to know why they were making me take an exam that I don’t need to graduate.

They don’t want to answer this question for some reason.

I could see the annoyance on my Principal’s face every time I brought it back to the academic probation threat.

My sister said I should just take the test and get it over with instead of turning it into a big thing.

No. Especially since they ignored her first request for information.

So, am I wrong for not just taking the test and for “going over their heads” to the District?

AITA?

No, the school is handling this very poorly. Normally, it is good to follow the advice of the school, but they are acting very weird about this, so I don’t blame her for escalating the issue. She was respectful the whole time, so I really don’t see the issue.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who had to find a creative way to communicate with her child’s school even though they refused to speak English.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about it.

Yup, this definitely seems to be the best explanation.

I agree with this commenter. They are getting kickbacks somewhere.

This commenter says she is being harassed.

She is acting maturely and will clearly be successful.

This commenter offers some great advice.

This school is clearly getting kickbacks from these tests. There is no other reason why they would be pushing them so hard.

If it really were only because it was good for the students, they would be able to explain why. She confronted the principal about it. He got upset. It really seems to be that simple.