A parent’s anger

A good friend wrote to me on Tuesday: "Universities have been closed for two months. My children entered two very good departments in Athens and Patra, two departments that require hard work to finish and which have huge dropout rates. They both missed the winter semester exam. In other words, they lost a semester. I don't know if there is another country in the EU which would allow universities to be closed for two months." And she added, "And imagine that some people voted for New Democracy so that sit-ins wouldn't be allowed and the semesters wouldn't be lost!"

Greek parents do everything so that their kids can study: They pay, they run around to book lessons at private tuition centers, they put unbearable pressure on their children to secure good grades in the nationwide university entrance exams. When their kids manage to get into a demanding university department, they...