A water balloon fight, roller skating through the hallways, a Farmer Looking for a Whore party, barricaded doors, students spending the night at school: the exam stunt or LSD (Last Day of School) is just around the corner. “The exam stunt is important, but be careful!”
Confetti, flour, eggs and alcohol are prohibited during the exam stunt at the Montessori Lyceum in Groningen. Traditionally, a group of final exam candidates takes a seat on the committee that organizes the festivities for the Last Day of School (LSD). Friday is the day.
The theme is a combination of après-ski and Oktoberfest. The whole school has lessons for the first two hours of the day and then the party starts, with a dating show, an obstacle course, food stalls and fake snow.
“The LSD is a tradition,” says Wannes van Koot (18), who is in pre-university education (VWO) 6 at the Montessori Lyceum. He effortlessly recites what he remembers from previous years. “Teachers who had to do sumo wrestling, chairs scattered throughout the school, performances by final exam candidates. Very nice!”
Very nice, but that is not always the case.
‘Vandalism’ on Dr. Nassau College in Assen
For example, two years ago, final exam students from Esdal College in Emmen were not allowed to hold an exam stunt. “But we still got the key from the caretaker and lugged about 10 straw bales weighing 25 kilos inside and shook them out in the canteen,” says Giel (17), who took his final pre-vocational secondary education exam that year. “Then we released 25 goats. School didn’t think it was that funny. We do.”
Or take the Dr. Nassau College (Quintus location) in Assen. Last year, then director Ralf Buiter banned all festivities after students set off smoke bombs in the auditorium and pelted the walls with packs of flour and eggs. They also defaced the school with graffiti. Buiter described the actions as vandalism.
His successor Wytze Algra is now trying to manage Friday’s LSD by making agreements with a group of students. “That’s how we keep it fun. It will be a fox hunt through Assen with students in costume. That ends with music and lunch on the schoolyard. We ensure adequate supervision.”
Exam stunt alias LSD alias Kolderdag
According to him, the exam stunt is a time-honored tradition. When he took his own exams at the Lauwers College in Buitenpost in 1982, the phenomenon already existed, although it was less grand and organized than in later years.
According to adolescent expert and educationalist Marina van der Wal (59), the exam stunt has been around for a very long time. In the past, LSD was considered a crazy day. “When I was 12 and in high school, the stunt already existed, even my parents already held an exam stunt.”
She has the most beautiful memories of her own exam stunt, “We turned off the alarm, stole the key and we all slept at school. Very early in the morning we called all the teachers out of bed and made breakfast for them at school. Then we played old Dutch games.”
The night she spent at school did not involve drinking. “We had a video marathon. I remember we saw the movie From the cool lakes of death watched. There was no mess, no destruction.”
You close a chapter with the exam stunt
The fact that this is now successful year in and year out can be explained by the lack of consistent upbringing that the current generation receives. “As educators and as a society, we have limited our youth too little. There are large groups of young people who are used to getting away with everything. As a result, more and more children have difficulty with impulse control. They have not really learned self-control and empathizing with others. That is why exam stunts often get out of hand.”
Van der Wal is nevertheless a big supporter of the exam stunt. “It is important to end a period. Only then can you really start a new phase. But keep some measure.”
Teacher Pieternel Wierenga (46) teaches Dutch at the pre-vocational secondary education at Gomarus College. Last year, final exam candidates had conducted a survey among teachers. One of the questions was what can we wake you up for at night? Satay croquette, said one teacher. You can wake me up to teach an economics lesson, the other said. They had no idea that a few weeks later they would indeed be called out of bed for this. “Very successful,” says Wierenga.
School for sale in Diever
Some of her pre-vocational secondary education students came to school on a tractor last year and barricaded the entrance with hay bales. “I have also experienced that all the tables and chairs were turned upside down in the school. And what happens a lot instead of a stunt is that we go to Walibi with all fourth classes. We’re doing that this year too. And we will hold a gala, where the teachers will serve.”
The most unique stunt? Nobody knows. Students from the De Rietlanden school community in Lelystad who stormed into the auditorium wearing ski masks and carrying smoke bombs had no idea that students saw it as a terrorist attack and were very shocked.
More innocent and funnier was the exam stunt in 2019 at Stad & Esch in Diever. Final exam candidates placed an advertisement on Marktplaats: ‘School building in good condition, including director’, they wrote. And: ‘Have to leave today!’ There were 26 bids on it, from a dime to just under 10 million euros.
Tags: Tractors hay bales goats auditorium Walibi day school LSD School didnt funny
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