Government Educational Service
Ensure your child's future today.
Ensure your child's future today.
This website is a mock registration for the government intelligence examination featured in "Examination Day" by Henry Slesar.
The examination will take place at the Government Educational Building. Please arrive at least 15 minutes before the scheduled time.
"Examination Day" by Henry Slesar follows twelve-year-old Richard "Dickie" Jordan on his birthday as he prepares for a mandatory government intelligence test at the age of twelve. His parents act anxious but avoid explaining why. After drinking a required truth serum and completing the exam, the government informs his parents that Dickie has scored too high based on government code, and must be executed to protect state stability.
The protagonist, a curious and intelligent twelve-year-old boy who faces an unfair government system.
His parents, who love him but feel powerless under the government's oppressive rules.
Unseen but authoritative figures who enforce the strict policies of the society.
The society in "Examination Day" is a dystopian world where the government enforces strict intelligence limits. Children are tested at age twelve to determine if they are too intelligent, posing a threat to societal control. The government exercises complete authority, making life fearful and oppressive, especially for parents. While it appears calm on the surface, it hides harsh, authoritarian policies.
This society mirrors our own through standardized testing and surveillance, but differs in its extreme punishment for intelligence. Free thought and exceptional ability are suppressed instead of celebrated. Basic information is not known either since most intelligent citizens are executed.
A government-imposed test on intelligence for childen of the age of twelve. If a child's IQ exceeds the quota, they are executed. This enforces conformity and prevents rebellion.
A number given to the main character, reducing his identity to just a number. Having dehumanizing traits.
A drink given to the test taker before the exam starts to ensure that those who could know how to play stupid to speak the truth to know precisely their intellect level.
The story shows the terrifying power of a government that eliminates threats to its control: “Your classification number is 600-115. Drink this, Richard" (Slesar)
Dickie’s trusting view of the world is shattered as he unknowingly walks toward death: “'Everything will be all right,' his mother lied, voice trembling" (Slesar).
These themes investigate the potential extremes of government control, as well as how elites attempt to keep the people uneducated in order to maintain control over them.