Rainy Day

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From Annie, THINGS YOU PROBABLY WON’T SEE IN AN AMERICAN SCHOOL:

A young girl welcoming me with a slight curtsy, a smile, and a heartfelt inquiry into my emotional well-being that day 

A grinning 12-year-old boy bowing his head slightly and putting his hand over his heart as he  greets me

Secondary teachers traveling from class to class, weighed down with 24” protractors and compasses or bulky science equipment, carrying all their teaching aids upstairs and downstairs because the students don’t rotate

Teen-aged students staying in the same cramped room all day every day, staring at the same walls, getting along or not getting along with the same students, sitting in the same hard chairs in the same rows, always right in front where they can hear the teacher or way in back where they can hardly see the board

A tenth-grader arriving late to class, actually waiting for permission to enter, apologizing to the teacher for being late, and quietly taking his seat

Teachers with 38 students in a classroom with no glass in the windows, trying to be heard above the dizzying cacophony of rickety ceiling fans (four to six in a room), barking dogs, blaring horns, a class chanting loudly right outside your window because the next-door teacher decided it is too sweltering to stay inside. (During the rainy season, throw in the sound of a heavy downpour and sirens.)

A long row of parents sitting outside the principal’s office because their children were tardy the day before  

A third floor computer lab with no air conditioning or fans in 90-degree weather

A worried student timidly asking his teacher about the naughty monkey in the day’s story who was eaten by a crocodile. “Is the monkey dead?” he whispers. Gripping his shoulders, she answers firmly, “Yes, that’s why you have to follow the rules.”

A teacher yelling at a preschooler who isn’t singing, “I’ll take your food away.” Or “I’ll beat you. Or “I’m going to call the police.” (The 4-year-old suddenly begins to sing.)

Middle schoolers going room to room, clipboards in hands in order to keep a careful record, asking for donations for a student’s uncle who died