It’s the biggest day for the exams today when every HSC student at the College is sitting the English paper. They will be spread over several rooms and I am looking after one of the biggest: 43 spread across 6 columns of desks with a reasonable space between them. Every supervisor available is rostered on including Marilyn and Jamie who are elsewhere in the building.
Three of my students haven’t turned up which is, apparently, par for the course.
The room is very hot and the students are too close together for comfort. The air conditioner is not coping so the college staff are running around to find fans to help circulate the air.
I have two offsiders, neither of whom has worked in this situation before so I am warned by the coordinator that I must play it by the book and not cut any corners. As if I would? Deb is nice and keen to get it right but the other fellow has read and memorised the instructions and wants to show off his knowledge by reminding me of the procedures. My instinct is to put him back in his box but that could be counter-productive. Probably better to roll with the situation and take advantage of his keenness.
The students are the usual mix of scholars, strugglers and time-wasters. Their self-discipline is, as usual, exemplary and I don’t have to worry about looking out for cheating, etc. How would you cheat in an English exam, anyway?
I find myself perusing their shoes, looking for trends and patterns. Most wear generic sneakers but a couple of girls prefer Converse basketball boots. Two or three girls favour heavy leather boots with 7 or 8 pairs of eyelets. A surprising number of boys have brands like Asics; their parents are certainly indulging them at $180 a pair.
There’s nothing startling about their clothing and many look as if they have slept in their clothes. There are a couple wearing baseball caps which I always think looks gormless, and one boy, who happens to have a full, bushy beard, is wearing what used to be called a stocking cap. Wool, of course, in this heat! His t-shirt has a logo celebrating the Battle of LA, a particular battle I somehow missed. He finishes early and is gone by 10.15.
An Asian girl has a t-shirt which says Je Ne Sai Qua and a boy’s logo proclaims Hockey Dad, with 5 yellow flowers. I don’t get that one so I’ll have to look it up.
Everything goes as it should and three and a half hours after the start, we usher the last of them out of the door.
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