Exams.

OK, so exams are really begginning to get to me now. English on Monday, critical thinking Tuesdsay, and then french a couple of weeks after that and then, big sigh of relief, we're done. Finito.
But all these exams got me thinking,a nd the really strange thing is that we have so many to do at all. I mean, what really is the point? Could we not just take a few huge, and undeniably stressful, exams at the end of our whole school life, and then just be done with it? Or couldn't they come up with a more representative way of testing, using coursework and general teacher comments and a few modules? Anything really, just to avoid the general dreaded association every 17 year old has with May and June.

I can still remember when the summer term was long, unbroken, and downright idyllic. Friends would come home for tea, spend hours swinging in the hammock and giggling, and leave at 7, perfectly happy and guilt free at having spent an evening not revising. Lunchtimes would be spent climbing the forbidden trees on the edge of the field, and the final few weeks of term were a blur of school trips, sport days and prize ceremonies. In short, the summer term involved very little work, and was often nearly as good as the holidays that followed, although none of us would ever have dared to admit it.

Maybe the answer is to move to Australia. There, I assume, the exams are in the Winter. Surely that means something? Short of simply going on strike, I don't see what else we could do.