"It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN"

It occurs to me that I haven’t really written much about the school itself.  Well, there’s a reason for this: it’s not all that different from a U.S. school.  Now, before you start throwing stuff at me for lying to you, let me justify this argument:

SIMILARITY:  Students take the same types of classes (math, science, social studies, literature, music, English, ancient Greek and Latin.

DIFFERENCE:  Just about all of these classes are taught in Greek.  Surprise!

SIMILARITY:  Students get just excited about Christmas and Easter  breaks as we do.

DIFFERENCE:  Students dread their end-of-year tests much more than we do.

On that last point, I want to share with you a bit about why students live in terror of these tests.  You see, it’s not just a final exam like we know.  Our finals are packed in to about three days at the end of the semester; their finals are spread across a 4-week period, and the scores they receive on these tests carry the same weight for college admissions as the ACT or SAT do for us.  Talk about high stakes testing.  Students, particularly the seniors, stop showing up at school for the last three weeks or so because that time is more valuable for them to be studying independently than to be in class.  Makes for some pretty small (i.e. 0) class sizes.

During the testing period, the school is on LOCKDOWN.  Seriously… we are not allowed in a 30 meter radius of the school building, and security takes this perimeter very seriously.

"Tresspassing forbidden.  Violators will be shot"
Not really, but it's a much better sign that way.
And most of you can't call me out for a bad translation, anyway.

Now with the intensity of these exams, you’d probably expect the Greeks to have a fool-proof way to secure the integrity of the tests.  You’re right – they do.  Let me give you an example for the English exams*.  The writing prompts are decided between sundown and sunrise the morning of the test, and the questions are released to the schools about 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the school day.  It’s hard to cheat when the test writers don’t even know what the writing topic will be, eh?

Oh, Greece…

*This is based on hearsay.  I have no reason to doubt that it’s true, but don’t quote me on it.