These last strained days of school are a lesson in living in a cage. You would think that these last few days of class would be the perfect time to offer the end-of-the-year exams – especially since it is the end-of-the-year. But, no – the end-of-the-year exams were offered in early May when they should have been named the”weeks-before-the-end-of-the-year-exam” Some of this actually does make sense in that the grades for students are not due after the students leave; they are due while they are still here.
So – big picture is that you have a last few days of school when nothing of any merit CAN happen. The school year calendar is designed to MAKE this week happen. Why? If you want us to teach to the end, wouldn’t it make sense to let us evaluate at the end?
Thus we have the week of the “Cage.” All must enter a room. All must wait for the allowed 90 minutes. All must forgo urination and the like. All must experience the cage. Clearly the lesson of the week is to WAIT! At times like this you almost wish that rooms had only one entrance that could be locked from the inside and that you had control of a thermostat that could turn the room into a very warm humid drowsy box of quiet. Perhaps one could put a towel over everyone as if they were in a bird cage just to confuse the into thinking it was night and offer the repose of sleep, The best cage is always the quiet cage