or, at least, human nature before the age of 50 – to believe that there is always still time to accomplish a lot. There are books that we promise ourselves that we will read before certain ages. There are countries that we promise ourselves that we will visit before certain ages. There are languages that we will learn, cars that we will buy, books that we will write, people we will meet, money we will have in the bank, companies we will start... And, of course, there are tests that we will study for. It's that time of year again and once again the butterflies in students' stomachs have burst forth from their cocoons as the students realize that they will have to learn a lot of material over the course of a couple of weeks – or, in some cases, a couple of days – that they had an entire semester to learn but didn't. They didn't learn it in the course of the semester because, after all, what's the rush? There was plenty of time. This attitude is not exclusive to Saudi students. In fact, it seems to be endemic to students around the world. Being a student is certainly one of the most privileged times of life that those of us who attended university will ever remember. It is close to the last time in one's life when the individual is at the center of everything. University can be an intellectual wonderland, allowing the student to explore any and all topics that he or she pleases. There are endless discussions about the world, ourselves, our dreams and our ambitions. It is probably the very last time when compromises do not have to be made. Or if they do, they are miniscule to the ones we will grapple with in later life. Unfortunately, complying with a system that presents information and then evaluates our absorption of it via tests is one of the compromises that has to be made. There will always be jokes and cartoons about students' resistance to this system but rarely does anyone realize that this compromise is as integral a part of education as any class on a university roster. If a student does, indeed, learn how to handle the deadlines, the limits and the demands placed on him from outside authorities, then he will be well on his way to internalizing the demands of the workplace. If not, there's trouble ahead. __
