http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Netherlands.
What I do understand is that Joy, the 16-year-old daughter of my hosts Hans and Evaline, was waiting with baited breath for Wed., June 11, to find out whether or not she passed her examinations.
Apparently, at age 16, Dutch students take a battery of serious exams, and it's pass or fail. If you pass - you go on to the next level of school. If you don't, well, you're not going to be very happy. And you learn your results on an appointed date and time - which was Wednesday at noon for Joy. I was staying at the Weigel's house and frankly - I was as nervous as they were for the call. Not only do I really like Joy and want her to do well, but can you imagine being someone's house guest when their daughter didn't pass her exams? Yikes! :)
THE GREAT NEWS - Joy (left) and her best friend, Milou (pronounced Mee-lou), both passed. I was so happy for them both and enjoyed celebrating with their family and friends on Wednesday. The neat thing is that in Holland, anytime a student passes these exams, the family raises the flag and puts a backpack on the flagpole.
Congratulations to Joy, Milou, Hans and Evaline!
On a side note - teens can drink alcohol here legally when they are 16, but instead of driving cars, they ride around on scooters (or bicycles, though scooters seem to be more popular among the kids in Amstelveen). I wrecked a scooter once at around age 12 in front of the Luongo's house on the street where I grew up. Not a fun event, so these kids can have their scooters. :)
2 comments:
With gas here in the states rapidly approaching $6/gallon, you might reconsider your antipathy toward scooters... your Corolla is a Ford Expedition in comparison.
Hi! Great blog!
I was just introduced to it via a comment on my blog about being 'geslaagd,' and I wonder if you won't mind if I add a link to your entry to my blog entry? Great information!
Post a Comment