The school year is almost done,
I dare say it's been rather fun!

Final examinations, the palpable indication that summer is just days away, have once again descended upon high school students in many corners of the country. Today's pallet of pain consisted of a rather mild mix of poetry recitation and role-play.

The poetical appreciation presentations went off without a hitch; by some miracle my English class managed to plow through at least twenty in the space of an hour and a half. Having publicly appreciated a poet on Friday, I sat back and allowed my fellow students to beguile me with verse. Overall, the quality of the presentations was quite high. However, the compressed nature of the presentations detracted from the exercise; I would have enjoyed hearing more about some of the poets.

In government, the role-play examination seemed a little wonky. A lack of realism, comprised the most glaring problem. The first question, for example, which put the testee in the position of a newly elected president in the process of composing an inaugural address, had some glaring inaccuracies. The president does not use the inaugural address to speak about specific policies, as the question indicated with its more detailed instructions. Typically, the inaugural address outlines a handful of broad polices while inspiring listeners with stirring rhetoric. Of course, the State of the Union address does contain the president's specific suggestions for tackling specific problems. The final had noble intentions to be sure, but its execution left something to be desired.

Two down, four to go.