 PASS THE ÖSS AND DO NOT LOOK BACK?
After a long absence, I had a chance to go to the cinema. I had no expectations about
seeing a good movie; I just joined my friend for some entertainment. The movie was called,
"Sınav" ("The Exam"). I knew only that Ömer Faruk Sorak, who also
directed GORA, directed it and that Jean-Claude Van Damme had an appearance in movie.
Nothing more. No one had told me that it was a good or bad movie.
After I watched "The Exam," my opinion in one sentence: One of the best movies
that I have seen in the past few years. I did not think that it would move me that much.
It is just a movie about high school students trying to steal university exam questions.
The themes in the movie, the family pressure, future expectations, the characters, the
typical high school teachers, the typical students who complain about the exams, were all
so close to reality. There were scenes that made me laugh and there were scenes that made
me pause and think. The story of a 3 hour, 15 minute exam could not be told in a better
way.
I am protesting all movies that are made as spin-offs from the original such as the new
versions of "Hababam Sınıfı." But this movie (though it might be seen as a
spin-off of one American movie where students steal SAT exam questions) touches on the
problems of education realistically. Unlike the American movie, in "The Exam,"
from beginning to end, the movie is filled with Turkish humor and characteristically
Turkish events.
We have in common the fact that we all passed this exam. This exam is one that each of us
sacrificed many things for and gave years of our lives over to studying in order to pass.
We experienced difficult times until we passed the exam. But I had forgotten that the ÖSS
even existed. When I watched the movie, I realized that I had pushed my experiences about
the exam back in my mind because I did not want to remember even a second of it.
But still, people right now are fighting with this exam and something is still wrong with
the education system. People are continuing to pay huge amounts of money in an effort to
pass this 3 hour and 15 minute exam. Thanks to this movie for reminding me of that.
Before, we were cursing the educational system that made us into race horses. There were
millions of competitors. Some of us had the opportunity to go to preparatory courses and
some of us did not. Some of us took health reports to school and did not attend class but
continued to go to those preparatory courses instead. The exam and school were separated
so that it became the case that if one did not go to the preparatory courses outside of
school they would have a minimal chance of passing the exam. Thus, everybody essentially
had to go to the preparatory courses and pay large sums of money for them. What a
nightmare it was. Luckily, I only took this exam once in my life. Then, when the day of
this exam came, I threw away the test books, as though I was sure to succeed and would
never need to study for this exam again.
I am sure that no one wants to remember our days preparing for the ÖSS, but we should. In
the future, who knows, one of us may be the education minister with the power to change
things. Someone should remember how those days were. Lastly, I am glad to see such a
successful movie, about a huge problem for Turkey. It is more than a movie that targeted
the younger generation. I recommend that everyone see "Sınav." I hope it was
not only me that found the film moving and I hope that those people with the ability to
reform the system that has created the ÖSS will view the movie.
Gülay Acar (COMD/IV)
howtoreachgulay@yahoo.com
 |
