A Classical Student by Anton Chekhov. Short summary

5 seconds

A teenager fails his Greek exam. His mother scolds him and asks the tenant to whip the boy. Then the family decides to give him to the trade.

1 minute

Thirteen-year-old Vanya Ottepelev is about to take his Greek exam. Out of fear, he kissed all the icons, approached his mother several times for a blessing, and asked his aunt to pray for him.

He came back pale and sad. His mother asked what mark he had received, and the boy wept bitterly. The woman began to scold her son.

An aunt came in and defended Vanya. She attacked the boy’s mother for sending her son to gymnasium, like the nobility.

And he was all exhausted, emaciated, and looked sickly and weak because of his hard studies. He should have been given to the «trade part.» That way the boy would have worked and made good money.

But the mother continues to scold Vanya and asks the tenant to whip the boy. He lectures Ottepelev on the benefits of learning and begins to flog him. The boy endures the flogging in silence.

In the evening it was decided to give him to the trade.