Logistics of exams

While I’m trying to memorize the potential bias in information collection, I remembered something about exams I forgot to mention:

Today on the way to church, we walked by some classrooms, and they were being prepped for exams.  How?  The desks are actually in neat columns and rows.  Exams are the only time this happens; the rooms are usually a mishmash of desks, and it’s fairly difficult to navigate past the first three rows.  

The only things we’re allowed to take into the exam room is our pens, registration card, and keys.  No phones, no paper.  None of the lecturers need us to bring our Bibles.  I’ve had my registration card out for two days so that I won’t forget it.

Church today was confirmation and communion and only took two and a half hours; we had 10 students and one staff confirmed, which is pretty cool.  Bishop Zack, the assistant bishop of Kampala, was here.  Wow.  What a dynamic preacher.  He apparently likes to really go off the cuff:  he had the children come up on stage to sing a song for us before they were dismissed for Sunday School, then asked the parents to stand up.  He then told them that he wanted each of them to take a turn helping in Sunday School, and that he was going to see if that really happens.  Later, he told the chaplain to not disseminate confirmation certificates unless each person confirmed had planted a tree on campus to take care of the environment.  That last one really surprised me and felt very Episcopalian (which isn’t a knock on anyone, but reminded me of home).  I mean – who’s going to coordinate that effort?  Eleven people are supposed to 1. obtain trees (which presumably cost money) and 2. plant them randomly?