Letter: Testing teaches students to cope

"Test of stamina" [News, April 18] was spot on concerning the fact that school testing may be a bit lengthy. However, to describe the testing as rigorous and exhausting is a bit over the top.

From what I gathered, the length of testing is scaled toward the grade of the student involved. If this is true, I don't see anything wrong here. Schooling is about more than just educating, it is also about preparation and conditioning.

I'm a 23-year-old college student. Stress is something the students will deal with for the rest of their academic and professional lives. If students lack stamina, then they should be helped to build coping mechanisms; unfortunately, younger students just guess at the answers when they can no longer handle the task at hand.

Stress can be handled in moderation. The difficulty with newer programs is perceiving how much stress can be exerted on a group of students, while maintaining accurate results. The more contact students have with these types of situations, the better equipped they will be to handle deadlines in the future.

Brian Witte, Commack