Chereads / The big exam / Chapter 2 - The Class

Chapter 2 - The Class

Moments before the teacher enters the classroom, we see some students huddled in small groups and others sitting alone, each occupied with his thoughts. At first glance, a clear difference is noticed in the students' races, as well as their temperaments and appearances. We find among them a lonely boy, sitting near the window and looking through it at the horizon, his name is Sami. He was a quiet boy meditating absent-mindedly at the farthest point his eyes could see. Near the door we catch a glimpse of a beautiful Asian-looking girl named Lidmila. She showed order and attention to detail in all that pertained to her, her table; her pens; her elegant ironed clothes; Her silky hair fell over her shoulders; Her nails were carefully painted to make her look natural. All her features suggested interest and love of life and beauty, as if she derives her confidence in herself from her arrangement. Not far from Ledmila, we find the dark-skinned Kamali, which indicates her African identity. Her lively spirit and cheerful, multi-coloured dress suggest a proud, sociable, and daring personality, who feels a sense of belonging to every environment in which she lives more than a day.

In the middle of the class there are three groups of the most popular students who take advantage of any spare moment to talk and chat with each other, as far as the differences that exist between them, but they agree with each other and exchange parties in harmony. It turns out that they have social skills that make them fit into any group and are able to communicate with many different personalities.

Among the influential students was a boy named "Adam" who was well-spoken and persuasive, which makes him very popular. Likewise, the blond boy was "Kamel", who was distinguished by his cunning and quick intuition, and others besides them each had his own unique way.

At the end of the class were three isolated students who did not like to integrate with the rest, and they might be upset by any interference in their affairs and would prefer not to appear or to raise any problem that would make them the focus of attention. Each has something of its own. "Mira," one of the students, was noticeably shy, folded a book into a book she was reading quietly. It seemed that she was a rural girl who had not yet become accustomed to the noise of the city. Her innocent features indicated the purity of her mind, her tan-white skin, her charming black eyes, and her long, silky hair, drawing a painting entitled Beauty, made by the Creator. Not far from "Mira" there is "Sinan" a confident boy who does not pay much attention to what is going on around him. A well-groomed boy in vision glasses browses through a collection of books he just borrowed from the school library. Far from the door is another student named Freddy. He was of a strong build and remarkable length that surpassed his peers. He tries to introvert himself so as not to show his height. He didn't like control, though he was big. He was calm and peaceful and seemed to be thoughtful the whole time.

In front of Freddy sits a gentle and quiet girl who was busy drawing something on a large white notebook. She is a talented student who is fond of abstract art called 'Tamara'. She used to ban some of her works to participate in a national competition that would enable her to realize her dream and develop her talent by entering the Academy of Fine Arts in another country that is more interested in arts. It was clear that Tamara was hiding her artwork from her family and She does not draw except during the time off, while she is at school, on the road or outside her home, because her parents always demanded that she excel in sciences to study medicine or nursing at the university. give up her hobby.

The number of students in the class was fifteen, each with its own distinct form, race, culture and temperament. The students were in the most enthusiastic phase of their lives, full of energy and lovers of life. They were holding big dreams, discussing their boundless ambitions, looking to the future with great optimism and eagerly waiting for it.

No one cared who would teach the subject, as some of them trusted themselves and depended on it to maintain their level. Others just wish class wasn't boring.

Professor Maria stands at the door and greets the students who have responded respectfully. She then enters the classroom, heading to her office at a regular pace, where she settles at the desk and puts her things in a drawer, then turns to the students and welcomes them and introduces herself to them as their new school. She had a great deal of social intelligence, as she was able with some insights to guess the students' psyche and know some of their features. Some of them preferred her young age, which makes her more understanding of their preoccupations and their modern way of living, since they are of almost the same generation. While others saw that she might be more strict with them than their previous teacher, and expressed their fear of her and of every change that might happen. There is also a group that did not show any interest in this change in the first place.

Maria was a professor of linguistics. Most of the students were not interested in the subject because they were inclined towards applied sciences, mathematics and physics. In contrast to these, "Sinan", "Tassili" and "Joseph" liked the material and clearly competed in it. As Sinan was interested in different languages ​​and cultures, he liked to see as many words and their meanings in all languages ​​as possible. Joseph was a calm, contemplative boy, sensitive and broad-minded, with wisdom and sobriety in his lack of speech, his eloquent pronunciation, and his familiarity with the various cultures in his country. Likewise, Tassili was a social girl who spoke a mixture of several languages ​​and dialects due to the different origins of her parents and grandparents, and this is what made her distinguished and loved.

Ms. Maria began her lesson with a quick review of the course and a brief overview of the remainder of it, emphasizing the main points of how she will work for the coming period. She was experienced in teaching and worked to kill boredom and create competition and fun among students. She saw that the first lesson begins with the challenge, and she also wants to satisfy her curiosity to know the level of each student and the extent of his interest in the subject. She thought of a way to bring out the best that they could offer, and she did not find a better idea than to give them the freedom to choose the language in which they would answer her question. I asked them to choose any language or even a local dialect in which they are good at writing a paragraph of five hundred words in which they tell about a human situation or a personal experience that affected them and changed their thinking or learned wisdom from it. It seemed easy for the students and they thought that they would not make mistakes in this work linguistically, since most of them chose their mother tongue and thus it would be easy for them. Professor "Maria" interrupted the students' joy by adding a condition that should not be neglected, which is that all construction words be in the same language and of their origins as well, meaning that they are not tainted by any extraneous words from another language, even if they are added to the lexicon academically. The majority did not care about this condition, believing that it was simple and that they could achieve it without much effort.

The students began to gather their ideas and complete the work, and they flaunted eloquent vocabulary from their sound language that they thought they mastered. Some of them chose the dialect of their ancestors, and most of them chose the mother tongue they spoke and studied in since their childhood. The class housed several ethnicities whose languages ​​and cultures differed to represent all parts of the world.

After a short time, the teacher asked her students to submit their work to complete the lesson, and then asked three students, who were randomly selected, to present their experience to everyone.

The first of them spoke and it was "Sinan" who created a paragraph about his trip with his family to an ancient place of worship in the country of his ancestors and chose their language that he is fluent in to describe the events and name the sights and traditional dishes in reference to his gratitude for going through the experience and remembering all its details.

The second role came to "Tassili", who wrote a historical paragraph in which she tells the story of her grandfather, which she heard from her mother. She was narrating, with great emotion and sadness, the way her grandfather was conscripted into the army during the war, and how the farewell was harsh for his family and children. "Tassili" chose a local dialect to convey the events as they are because her ancestors spoke that dialect only.

As for the third student, Mira, with a gentle literary style and a delicate sense, recounted her experience in saving a rare wild animal in nature, when she found him injured on the side of the road and almost dying from lack of food and disease, as his injury to one of his limbs prevented him from walking and hunting . Mira chose simple words from her mother tongue to describe the condition of the animal and to send a message to educate people about the need to preserve the aspects of natural life and all the creatures that we rarely see in their habitats.

The three students finished reciting what they wrote in front of everyone, after which Ms. "Maria" received her electronic board, which contains a database in several languages. I first asked the student Sinan: Are you sure that all the words you wrote are from the same language? Sinan confidently answered: Yes, it is the language of my Ottoman ancestors.

Then she turned to the students and asked: Do you have any vocabulary in your colleague's creation that you know in your languages?

A student spoke and said yes, I find that this word has a Latin origin. Mira spoke after it to say that there are several words of Arabic origin as well. So did "Lidmila", which extracted a word from the language of the peoples of South Asia.

In the same way, most of the texts were analyzed and it was found that they contain, even in a small percentage, extraneous, revised or merged words because they are from other languages. All the students looked at each other in confusion. Maria continued the lesson as she explained to the students that languages ​​overlap and complement each other since the existence of man, and that most languages ​​would not have reached their current level of development if they had not benefited from some of them.

Maria did not stop explaining until the school bell rang and the students took a break.

After the students returned, they had a date with a history lesson, which was telling about a series of events that took place in the seventeenth century in the Mediterranean region. A professor of history called "Amelia" was recounting the facts of the Exmouth invasion from the book "Grees in the Barbaria Region" and began to enumerate the successive wars and historical events that occurred in the region and how it was the subject of ambitions and an area of ​​conflicts that almost never subside.

Meanwhile, "Sinan" raised his hand and asked for intervention. He said: The outbreak of an internal war against the regime in that period is the reason for fueling ambitions on that region, and if it were not for the internal betrayal of the regime, no invading force would have dared to settle a powerful and influential kingdom on the level of the entire region.

Tassili was infuriated by Sinan's words about the revolution carried out by the residents of the region in that period, and she responded angrily: How could he call the landowners' revolution treason? Wasn't their rule also tyrannical, just like all conquerors?

"Sinan" replied that the rulers at that time did not come as invaders and did not enter the kingdom by war and did not usurp the rule from the inhabitants of the land, but came loyal to them and protectors in order to preserve their wealth and repel attacks and greed from them.

Tassili's answer was more ferocious than before, as it refused to justify any kind of colonialism under any circumstances or reason. Whoever has ambitions to occupy a region may fabricate any reason to reach his goal, and every uprising or revolution rejects colonialism and calls for freedom, as it is sacred and legitimate and there is no justification for the invaders.

Professor "Amelia" interrupted the discussion of the two parties and hurried to complete the lesson before the class time ended and the students went out to lunch in the school canteen.

After the students returned to class, they had an appointment with an applied biology lesson. The professor called "Albert" entered first, and he was a tall old man with white hair, and he asked everyone to wear aprons before approaching the laboratory tables to avoid contact with any solutions that might be harmful or dangerous. The students sat in groups of two and the professor seemed to prepare for the work they were going to do. After studying several axes about living organisms and their surroundings and biodiversity, they were on a date with the study of the human body and its vital functions. In front of each group of students was a small radiological device that looks like a three-dimensional freshness that works with several types of rays transmitted at different waves according to the type of particles to be imaged. The device was a recent invention And it must be used with caution due to the danger of radiation to the organs if it is used randomly.

The professor introduced the students to the nature of the device and its working principle. He recommended that they follow all the steps for proper use of it, and asked them to test it after adjusting it to imaging the muscular system by choosing the waves and radiation assigned to the muscle tissue. Where a student from the two must wear the device on his head like digital glasses, after setting it on the appropriate rays, and directing his gaze towards his colleague starting from the head to the toes in no more than a minute, and with great concentration he tries to examine the muscles of his colleague by comparing them with the natural muscular system For a person who stores it in his memory or finds it in front of him in a large hanging on the laboratory wall.

After a minute has elapsed, the radiation is automatically cut off to not endanger the body. Then the student writes the result of the examination by mentioning the percentage of muscle development or atrophy, or any problem in the ligaments and tendons, if he can notice it.

The students began preparing the device and operated it according to the instructions. They examined each other's bodies, and compared the size and activity of the muscles with the virtual and anthropomorphic body in the laboratory. Some of them discovered exceptional cases of muscles, and some of them noticed health problems in his body that he did not know existed. Everyone finished the experiment with different results, some of them were able to photograph the whole body within a minute, and some of them were not quick in the examination and were not able to do so. Then the professor examined all the reports to warn about the pathological conditions that may affect the muscles, such as sagging, atrophy, slackness, and others.

A few minutes before the students leave and the lesson time ends, all the students receive a notification on the school radio, telling them that they must come to take a trial exam the next day. No exam was scheduled ten days earlier than it was normally scheduled. Most of the students expressed their displeasure and grumble about this sudden news, and most of them were not prepared for it.

The students came out complaining after the lesson time to find that the decision of the trial exam was hanging on the bulletin boards and on their e-mail and reassured them that it would be a successful pedagogical experiment. The exam program was unusually surprising, as all exams were conducted in one day, after allocating one hour for each subject.

At the same time, the principal asked the teachers to attend a meeting to discuss the matter of the trial exam and asked them to prepare some questions about the important topics that the students studied during the whole year.