The Strange Fate of Twelfth Grade: Students' Indifference and Half-Empty Classrooms

Just in the year that should be its peak, twelfth-grade classes in many public high schools have become emptier than other grades.

Part of the twelfth grade students, with a simple but heavy argument, consider daily attendance at school to be time-consuming and unproductive, and prefer to spend their hours at home, in specialized entrance exam classes, or in private schools. This phenomenon is no longer an exception, but a narrative of the structural inefficiency of schools, especially public schools, against the intense competition of the entrance exam; A narrative that families also confirm with silence or even welcome.

The statistics of the top ranks of the entrance exam in recent years clearly document this claim. In the 1404 entrance exam, among the first ranks of mathematics, experimental and humanitarian groups, no names of students from normal public schools are visible. The majority share was awarded to Sampad (Tizhoshan), model government and non-government schools. The same pattern was repeated in the 1405 entrance exam: out of the top 30 ranks of the three main groups, the share of public schools was zero or close to zero, and more than 60% of the ranks were from Sempad. This persistent absence is not an accident, but a symptom of a deep gap between the quality of public education and the real needs of national testing.

The long hours at school—typically six to eight hours a day, plus commuting—limit pure study time to three to five hours. While the entrance exam student needs at least seven hours of concentrated study. Many classes also only cover 12th grade topics and neglect 10th and 11th grade review or test-taking skills. The result is a gradual exodus from government benches to schools that offer an intensive and targeted program.

Sara, a twelfth grader from an area west of Tehran, says: "Every day I sat in school for six hours and only listened to topics that I had read before in school. Fatigue from the road and unproductive classes destroys the concentration of studying at night. Now I study at home in the mornings and go to entrance exam classes in the evenings. "My family also agrees, because the result is more important than the physical presence."

Amir, a math student from Karaj, has a similar experience: "Our school had good teachers, but its general program was not set for the entrance exam. When I saw that the top ranks were all from Sampad or private, I decided not to waste time. "Now I want to appear only for the final exams and I have dedicated the rest of the day to testing and summarizing." Nazanin, a humanities major from the south of Tehran, also emphasizes: "The school classes were mostly descriptive and not enough for entrance exams. "My family was worried at first, but when they saw that my GPA and test scores had increased, they stopped objecting." She says I feel like I'm wasting my time in high school.

The challenge of families and school administrators

This welcoming of families is rooted in a fact. They have found that the management of many public schools—especially in the critical year of the entrance exam—failed to create a competitive and efficient learning environment. Official rules limit full absenteeism to specific circumstances (such as adult schools or exceptional situations) and unexcused absences can affect a continuing grade. However, in practice, many principals are challenged with purposeful absences, and some tolerate them, or students only attend exams with coordination.

In the meantime, there are managers who contact families and talk about the possibility of expelling teachers and insisting that the student attend school.

The current phenomenon, before it is simply a student's individual choice, is probably a mirror of the management and conditions governing public schools. Until these schools can provide a flexible, quality program that is in line with the needs of students, the queue of students in private schools will be longer and many will even prefer studying at home to school. Of course, we should not ignore the influence of the advertisements of entrance examination institutions and their factories in this story.

It seems that perhaps reducing the duration of the twelfth course in many fields is a temporary solution to overcome the current situation before making a more fundamental decision for the future. However, any plan needs expert review.