IT would be mad to think that schools might be asked to stay open in January just to save the 11-plus, wouldn't it?
Perhaps it is not as crazy a notion as one might suspect.
After all, in almost a full year of educational turmoil, academic selection has remained the only constant.
All schools have shut down twice, children in their thousands have been sent home and staff are also falling ill.
Principals are being pushed to the limit, GCSEs and A-levels have been scrapped once and will be stripped back next year.
But grammar school entrance tests are still due to go ahead early in the new year.
The entire system of transfer has also been shaken-up to accommodate these unregulated exams operating later than first planned.
It is a quite bizarre situation.
When society ground to a halt in March, schools were shut down and remained closed for the rest of the summer.
It was recognised that the spread of the virus slowed when most children were at home during those months.
Since the re-opening, there have been hundreds of schools and thousands of pupils and staff affected by outbreaks.
Unions say the in-out approach to teaching and learning is counter-productive.
Nothing is off the table, so fresh closures and remote learning in January remains a possibility.
There are valid questions around allowing children to still go to school when everything else in society is shutting down.
However, if schools closed again, that would likely mean the transfer tests could not proceed.
Even though they are due to start on January 9, when children would already be prepared, there would be a concern about schools hosting large groups of pupils.
It could be argued that the damage has already been done with pupils from multiple classroom bubbles having attended `familiarisation' days at the host grammar schools.
Parents have been told that the schools will be using all available space, rather than just classrooms. It will still be almost impossible to avoid bubbles mixing.
Moving the tests back to January, at the providers' insistence has, almost predictably, created even more stress, worry and anxiety.
Had they ploughed ahead with the November date, it would all be done and dusted by now.
In the event of a last minute cancellation, the grammar schools at least have time to draw up their contingency on how to admit pupils.
Admissions criteria for post-primary schools, which are usually published by now, will not be available this year until February next year.
The AQE, which runs one of the exams, says the health and wellbeing of the candidates and staff is its "first priority".
Therefore, should the tests proceed, there may yet be an appeal made to primary schools to ask them to play host, which is unlikely to be accepted universally.
The easiest solution would appear to be, as a dozen grammar schools have so-far agreed, to break away from selection until the virus is brought under control.
Give everyone a break.
