EXAMS EXAMINED
UK readers may remember the recent (Sept 2002) fuss & furore over the fairness of this year's A-level Exam results. Among the acres of print & aeons of airtime devoted to comment, conspicuously lacking was any fundamental critique of Exams per se.
Exams constitute a rite of passage, or degradation ritual, that is a cruel ordeal. The level of stress, to which children, adolescents & young people (mainly) are subjected, has been shown to be comparable to that experienced by soldiers in battle. Indeed, faced with the prospect (or disappointing results) of exams, some students have committed suicide.
The skills necessary for passing exams are of little practical application in subsequent personal or professional life.
IN NOT MORE THAN SO MANY WORDS
this must be some kind of joke
I only wish I knew the punchline
damn exams
the papers & the endless words
the worry
all for what
how can people with a gram of sense
believe it really matters
yet the slavish masks around me
bending low
write as if their lives depended on it
to be or not to be
a tricky question
what's the answer
O-Level Life's so difficult to pass
perhaps to laugh out loud
would be the wisest
no
"Throughout virtually the whole of the modern educational system there now exists one powerful and impressive form of super-tribal initiation ceremony, which goes under the revealing name of 'examinations'. These are conducted in the heavy atmosphere of high ritual, with the pupils cut off from all outside assistance. Just as in the tribal ritual, no one can help them. They must suffer on their own. At all other times in their lives they can make use of books of reference, or discussions over difficult points, when they are applying their intelligence to a problem, but not during the private rituals of the dreaded examinations.
The ordeal is further intensified by setting a strict time limit and by crowding all the different examinations together in the short space of a few days or weeks. The overall effect of these measures is to create a considerable amount of mental torment, again recalling the mood of the more primitive initiation ceremonies of simple tribes."(The Human Zoo, Desmond Morris)
no-one would ever understand
they'd think
I'd just cracked up
& I'd be counted as a casualty in battle
easier to play the game
submit to degradation & be graded
supply whatever is expected
by the powers that be
lie & lie & lie again
but very plausibly
the promise of a good result
like some sweet & juicy carrot is
meant to make this donkey-work worthwhile
but I feel stubborn as a mule
refuse to jump another hurdle
I don't want to win the race
such a course insults a horse
my days as hack are almost over
put out to pastures new
I'll graze in clover
(A MINUTE LEFT)
still time to daydream
examine the world outside the window
surely there we can be free at last
not mere pupils under one more master
surely somewhere we shall see
writ large in neon lights
HAPPINESS * BEAUTY * TRUTH * & LIBERTY
(STOP WRITING NOW)
WRITE AN ESSAY ON THE FOLLOWING
on sunny days I'm shut in dudgeon's dungeon
listening to illuminating lectures on
don't think the irony escapes me
Blake never wasted time at university
Coleridge dropped out
Shelley was expelled
most are only here for the degree
what does it mean to do best
in the Shakespeare test
what grade would Will have made
does Sir Gawain pass or fail
can Beowulf's bravery be assessed
compare & contrast
present & past
Skool
A - Z
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