June 12, 2002

Taking Exams at Bethlehem Bible College

[Bethlehem, Palestine] I gave my "Using the Internet as a Communications Tool" class their exam today, and I think the students did very well. I graded the tests this evening, and I was very pleased with my students' efforts. We had to get this exam thing out of the way. It is June 12, so we were a little behind schedule for final exams. Yes indeed, we are behind schedule for final exams --- but today I only gave the mid-term!

Palestinian students here in Bethlehem have lost a total of about 60 days due to various invasions and curfews. Two months. Two months is not so long, you might say. Well, it's not so long if you can go about your daily business. It's not so long if you can go shopping. It's not so long if you can hang out with friends. It's not so long if you can go to work and to school. It's not so long -- unless you're sitting under house arrest. Try spending a single weekend without leaving your home. Then spend a week at home. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. And another. (By the way, I didn't go through much of this ordeal. I was sitting most of it out in Jerusalem. Going about my daily business. Going shopping. Hanging out with a few friends. Going to work.)

I liked what Ghassan Andoni of the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement said recently. He called the effects of these invasions something like starting over every few days. That's a good description. It's hard to build up any momentum when you're stopped cold every other day.

So I passed out the mid-term exams today. An unfamiliar gentleman visitor walked into my room, and seriously asked me if I allowed my students to cheat.

"To cheat? To cheat?," I said in disbelief.

"Of course," was his reply. "Studies show that students who cheat receive better marks on tests."

(Who needed to research that?) Yet, I could not argue with his logic...