Maturity, silent scene due to protest at the oral exam: «The commissioner humiliated the class with low marks in the written Greek»

«I decided that today I will not take the oral examnot because I’m afraid of it or because I haven’t studied, but because I don’t want to accept your judgment which does not reflect my work and because I do not tolerate disrespect towards me.” Linda Conchetto18 years old from the Lido of Venice, with these words he put an end to his classical high school diploma. She had everything to lose but she made it a battle of dignity. The student, promising athlete and already admitted with a scholarship for sporting merit to Miami University in Ohio, he read the reasons in full before the assembled commission Tuesday 25 June for his oral exam, at the Foscarini classical high school in Venice.

The Greek test and the low grades

He aspired to come out with at least 90 (which could have helped her go to university also due to scholastic merit) but, with frameworks not yet defined, it stops at 67. The silent scene is there “white protest” that she and her companions Virginia Gonzales y Herrera and Lucrezia Novello they implemented for the low marks the class received on the Greek translation of a text by Plato, from «Minos or the Law». All three signed their presence without answering the commissioners’ questions. The two were just barely enough (Virginia got, in tenths, a 3.5, ed.) they asked to see the test with Greek grammar and dictionary Greek-Italian in hand,
accepting to receive the lowest possible evaluation but counting on passing the final exam in any case given how much has been gained between admission to the exam and writings. «Of fourteen admitted for the state exam in section III A of the regulations, only four of them got a passing grade» explains Linda.

Disagreement on ratings: humiliating

As a matter of practice, the scores for each test, before being made known to the graduates, are proposed and approved at a collegial level by the entire commission which in this case includes the Greek teacher Carmelita Pettenà, an external commissioner from the Franchetti high school in Mestre, that the interior of Latin, Francesco Chiaro. «I would like to point out that I showed up with an eight on my report card in Greek and ten in conduct, with 37 out of 40 credits, and that I didn’t find the version particularly difficult and yet the result, in tenths, was 6.5 – says the athlete, third in the regional absolutes last year in the 1500 meters -. I found the humiliating and unjustified vote like the rain of serious shortcomings on candidates who have always proven to be prepared over the course of the year. The same commissioner also awarded one average of 7 to versions of another section of the school”.

Close votes: shared suspicion

The students’ suspicion is that one was reserved for them evaluation of «tight sleeve» because in the past, this is what the class claims, Professor Pettenà apparently had disagreements with Professor Chiaro. A theory which is at least difficult to prove given that a single teacher cannot determine a grade. Neither the Venetian nor the Mestre high schools have released official statements on the issue, while the regional coordinator rejects the behavior of the young people School guild, Fabrizio Rebershegg. «The questions are answered, if there are issues we proceed with access to the documents and appeal, possibly a posteriori, the definitive outcome”, he clarifies. Three o’clock they will proceed with access to the documents but do not currently foresee an appeal to the TAR. «I remade the version at home with my mothergraduated in Greek and Latin, finding just one mistake. He asked on several occasions to review the text during the oral exam. After fifty minutes of conversation in which the commissioners proved to be immovable, she left the room”, continues Linda who meditated for a long time, supported by her parents, on the text read and then read by the professors. «I wonder if it really makes sense to continue to be belittled from a commission that evidently shows us no respect. The answer is no, I don’t want to continueI prefer to leave this school aware of my cultural background acquired also thanks to worthy teachers and of my abilities which allowed me to obtain a full scholarship in the United States rather than seeing my dignity violated”, he writes.

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