JERUSALEM: All teenagersface serious dilemmas at some point in their lives, but for a group of Israeli high schoolers, one particular situation has caused a high degree of anguish.
Should they sit a very important matricexam or go and see their idol Justin Bieber when he performs in Tel Aviv next May?
That’s right, pop star Justin Bieber is set to hold his first concert in Israel in five years the night before the national biology exam.
According to Israel Army Radio, which broke the story on Monday morning, Israeli high school students are angry. Very angry.
They have taken to social media demanding that the Ministry of Education move the exam to another date. How can they possibly see Bieber and wake up the next day to take the exam, which is part of the compulsory tests for high school graduation?
“With all due respect to biology, Justin Bieber does not come to Israel every year.
“This exam will prevent many high school kids from going to his performance,” wrote one student on the Facebook page of Israel’s National Students and Youth Council.
On Sunday the council shared a WhatsApp message calling for the exam to be rescheduled because of the show, initially as a joke: “This is one of the weirdest requests we have received, what do you think?”
But the post garnered some 500 comments, many of them calling on teachers to move the exam to another date.
“Of course. This is right! It’s not an opportunity that will repeat itself, maybe it is even the chance of a lifetime. We have to try and delay, I hope we can,” wrote another teen.
“Too right. This is a one-time performance and for some people it’s very important. I see why those who are majoring in biology have to make the choice of giving up on the show. The school board really needs to try help move it,” wrote another student. “This really sucks and I, as a biology student, really don’t know what to do.”.
Not everyone in Israel has Bieber fever though. In the tradition of the anti-Bieber crowd, some of the students mocked their peers for agonising over this situation.
Israel Army Radio said the Education Ministry responded by saying it did not see any conflict in going to see Bieber and taking the exam.
The test is scheduled for 2.30pm, which gives the Bieber fans plenty of timeto recover from the experience. Or maybe not. – The Washington Post