Photographic Memories

All across Ireland, students are sitting their Leaving Cert exams and the level of anxiety is at an all time high.

It's make or break time, get enough points for your chosen field time. To say that teens are under stress is a bit of an understatement.

Despite the pressure and panic, Ireland's students demonstrated a remarkable level of brain power. Photographic memories, in fact, an ability to see a question and recall it moments later.

A superintendent of a school in County Louth handed out the English test paper yesterday. By mistake, he gave the students the English paper 2, rather than English paper 1. He realized his error, took back the wrong questions and handed out the correct ones.

In no time, the word spread from Louth and rocketed across the island. Students who had seen the second paper wasted no time in sharing the questions with their friends via text and phone, and then those friends passed it along the social network. The element of surprise was thus lost, with so many made aware of the identity of the poet who was the focus of the second day's test, thereby skewing the results.

The superintendent has been suspended, there's an investigation into the incident, and Minister for Education Batt O'Keefe is fielding complaints. The English paper 2 has been rescheduled, but not until Saturday. Stressed out kids, mentally prepared for the test, now have even longer to worry about failure, and their parents are right there with them.

Taxpayers should take heart. The fact that the kids could see information for a few minutes and imprint it on their brains must surely indicate the quality of the education that they've received. And the religious orders who run those schools can point with pride to the demonstration of Catholic charity, to the generous sharing with others that forced the State Examination Commission to come up with a new English paper 2 by Saturday.