Today my dear brother-in-law (the baby of my husband's family) began his PanHellenic Exams, a terrifying rite of passage for all Greek high school seniors. These exams are not just stressful for the same reasons most exams are stressful - these exams essentially determine the fate of the rest of each student's life: whether they will go to college, whether they will study the subject they want to study, whether they will be employable a few years down the road. Essentially, each student decides the course of study they would most like to pursue in their university education, and takes a slate of exams related to the field. If you do poorly, or if too many other students outscore you, you won't get the university position you desire. You can try again the next year, but I can't imagine wanting to go through all that stress all over again.
At any rate, the entire family is on pins and needles hoping, praying, and worrying about my dear brother-in-law and how he will do on his exams. Personally, I think he will do fine, after all, he has three siblings who ended up in their desired fields. But I feel for the poor kid too, for the past year he has lessons upon lessons, every night, weekends, all the time studying, learning, preparing for these exams.
I don't know about you, but my senior year was the party year. Sure, I went to the geeky smarty school, but after the first semester of my senior year I was pretty much done with all my credits, my college applications were long mailed, and my second semester courses consisted of something like three study halls, a creative writing class, an English class, and some bullshit social studies/economics type deal. By the end of senior year most of us had gotten into the colleges of our choice, and most of us were exempt from any exams due to good grades. In short, nobody cared, and we were carefree.
To me, this made sense, even though I was one of those kids who loved school. I loved it. But life at Hume-Fogg was pretty challenging at times, and we were all pretty conscientious students. By the second semester of our senior year, we deserved a break. Just deciding on colleges, writing application essays, and taking the SAT and ACT were stressful enough - I can't imagine having to pick, definitively, what I would end up doing for the rest of my life and having to prepare for exams that would determine whether or not I would even attend college. I'm especially glad I didn't have to do that now, since I switched majors in my sophomore year.
Now, I realize that university for Greeks is free. I realize that it is a small country that can't support too many people in any one area of expertise. But I feel like there should be some balance between the "all or nothing" decision at the age of 17 or 18 and having some kind of choice about your future. If kids are spending too much time focusing on their studies for these exams, how are they learning anything else?
This is not to say that I think the American way of higher learning is perfect. There are way too many students who don't care or pursue college life simply as a means of getting away from home and partying. This seems all the more idiotic when you think that these kids (or their parents, actually) are paying for this education that they aren't valuing enough. But I do think that 17-year-olds aren't necessarily ready, or able, to make life-changing decisions about their future. I also don't think it is appropriate for their parents to make the decisions for them.
Do I have a middle ground solution? Not really. But I don't know if the PanHellenic exam system is a sound one. There has been lots of controversy in the past - students who get to go where they want because of connections, students who scored terribly in their field but because they are among too few they get to go to college anyway, and a number of other small dramas. I also am not familiar with the scoring system or the setup of the exams themselves to know if they are able qualifiers to judge students and their knowledge of their chosen subject. Having worked in scoring for national tests in America, I can't help but be a bit curious.
For now, all I can do is hope my dear brother-in-law reaches his heart's desire when it comes to his education. And I'll be happiest for him when all this stress is over.
6 comments:
We're walking on egg shells around our house because Daughter#1 is taking the university entry exams as well.
This exam system's major defect is that the last two years of high-school (lykeio) are invested (time-wise and curricular-wise) purely for university exams. There should be an extra year (prep school) for those kids who actually want to become university students and free the basic 3year lykeio curriculum from exam-oriented mode and allow kids to enjoy the last years of their basic education and get a worthwhile high-school diploma. Every two years the Ministry of Education "tweaks", changes or modifies the exam system, treating Greek students as guinea pigs on a tight military/study schedule. 17 year olds may not know what they want to be "when they grow up" but it is also a sad consequence that many attend university schools they didn't actually like but that's where they managed to pass...
Good luck to your brother-in-law.
:-)
Excellent post. If I do have children and I continue to live in Greece I don't plan on them going to universities here. BTW, when I hear that Greek universities are 'free' I can't help but wonder why no one takes into account the (high) cost of all the φροντιστιριο up until the exams. (I enjoy reading your posts. Thanks.)
It could be worse. I once had to do a urine test for drug testing and I stayed up all night studying before I realized there really isn't an exam for this kind of thing.
Funny that you should post about this, because I was thinking of doing the same thing. It is exam season, after all, I suppose. My big issue with the Panhellenics is, what if you are a smart person who does not do well on tests? I recently had a conversation with a Greek friend who told me that he believes there is no such thing; smart people always do well on tests. I could not agree less!
Having a state run free university system has some benefits; for example, kids spend their time studying to get into college instead of working at McDonald's to pay for college; I think it's a more worthwhile investment. On the other hand, just because university is free doesn't mean that it is blind to social and economic class; like John said, it seems that preparation for university costs plenty in many cases.
Ultimately, no educational system is perfect, and the American one has some serious problems, but I still think there are probably some really smart capable Greek kids out there who test badly and their entire lives are changed because of this one small thing. And sure, it's good to have the ability to work well under pressure, but why measure everything by tests when tests are so rare in the real world?
And that is directed at you too, George Bush.
And good luck to your daughter, Flubberwinkle! That is one of my main issues with the exam and the importance of it - the quality of their high school education. Sure, I know high school is supposed to be in preparation for college, but come on. There are a lot of things you need to learn in high school that don't have anything to do with preparing for exams.
John, you are so right. I don't know how much money my in-laws have spent in extra tutoring, lessons, and books for all four of their children, but I wouldn't be surprised if it equals the price of a college education in America for each one of them. I don't have children right now, but if I do, I want them to have choices.
Fraud, you should have stayed up all night drinking water and peeing nonstop. That is how you prepare for such an exam.
Emily, I totally agree. Testing should be only one criteria for judging students who want to go on to college. I wonder if Greece could adopt a program that includes the exam results, but also takes into consideration a host of other factors, including an application that includes an essay of some sort - the same sort of thing that American colleges use. I think the world is discovering more and more that simple testing does not tell all about a person - it means very little that some people can memorize a whole host of information and recite it back. Can they use their knowledge in practice? Can they expound on the theory?
A few more points. I too don't do well with tests. When I was getting prepared for college I spent two summers doing volunteer work as well as pursuing extracurricular activities in high school so I can make my college resume 'stand out'. Colleges are so right in wanting students that will make a difference in the world (most college's web page begin by listing people who graduated from their schools and went on to win Nobels, Pulitzers, great athletes/philosophers, etc.). Who need students ('parrots') that can memorize well. Not to be racist, but if it was only up to GPA's & SAT's, most top colleges in the USA would be filled by Asians. How 'vanilla' a student body that would be? I hate the Greek university system and want no part in getting prepared for it. The other thing that is talked about is how 'free' the Greek schools are. I never thought twice about the cost of college in the USA (even though I came from a lower middle class family). I accepted the fact that I would have debt after college. I also knew when colleges accept you (before you make the final decision) they also send along a financial package (grants, loans, campus jobs, etc.). I'm sorry, but there is no way I can knock the university system in the states (PS. I too enjoyed my last year in high school - after the SAT's and having been accepted into college). Thanks again.
Post a Comment