Second impressions at school

Remember back when I said, "I just waltz in there 16 hours a week, who am I to judge?" Well, I should have followed my own advice. After another couple of weeks I'm beginning to have better idea why the teachers act like they do. Much as in most urban school districts in the US, public schools in Madrid are underfunded and understaffed. Anyone who can afford to sends their kids to private school. The conservative madrileño government is steadily cutting back on education funding. If Eva seemed pessimistic and impatient, then it was only because she's had her patience tested to the limit. If it didn't seem like Cristina was putting very much energy in to class, it was because she's overworked.

The cultural differences still get to me sometimes, though. The school system these teachers grew up in was infamously strict. Many things have changed. Teachers are called by their first names, for example. However, the environment is still really different from the elementary school I remember where promoting self-esteem and creativity were top priorities. As Halloween approaches we're doing lot's of bats and ghosts and pumpkins. Bats are black. Ghosts are white. Pumpkins are orange. Any divergence from this may be tolerated but it won't be encouraged. In one class a boy had made a really cool brown and purple bat, but he was sent to his table to recolor the whole thing plane black. This was just a time filler coloring page, too. It's not like the directions said, "Color the bat black." I could understand that. It's just that bats are black. Period.