classroom crisis

this is the 2nd week of school for jj (and 3rd of the school year) and we have already had a crisis in the classroom. we got an email from the head of the adaptation program last night of a grave interaction that transpired at school. apparently, the 8th grade science class had “chatting, inattention and lack of focus” and THEN another event. the mixed 8th/9th grade “global issues” class were sitting on the floor of the hall, waiting for their classroom to open. the principal of the school happened to be walking by and had to remind them that this was rude and unacceptable and created a disturbance (understandable since the halls are narrow). apparently she heard someone whistle (jj did not hear this), freaked out and threatened them with suspension. so the conversation in the house has been about the event, but more about the reactions. jj says she really didn’t think it was very bad behavior. since we were not there, we cannot sense the atmosphere at the time which could have been very much more serious than what is conveyed in the email. however, it seems to be a bit of an overreaction. jj says she thinks the principal hates them... perhaps a teenager’s sensitivity, but i’m sure she senses something. we were told that the adaptation class is of core importance to the school, which has as its mission “to develop international understanding through bilingual education”. there is great pride in the students who arrive knowing absolutely no french, who become quickly fluent and go into the mainstream school after one year of adaptation classes. i wonder if it is a pygmalian pride. ‘we took these barbarians and molded them quickly into civilized beings’. so perhaps the principal looks at them at this stage of their french experience as rude, raw material. i wonder if this is a misunderstanding, that the “whistling” was an oblivious american’s expression of “whoa!” and not “hey, babe” or whatever else might have been interpreted. we are just trying to understand. we know that the french school system is more strict and rigid. some of the older american students who acted as our guides told us that they thought the teachers of the younger kids were much more strict than the teachers of higher grades. she figured that they had to get them all well behaved early and then the older kids didn’t need as much obvious discipline or reminders of the authority of the elders. the french school culture seems to involve a lot of yelling and harsh discipline. p had a theory that, as with badly behaved kids everywhere, the more you yell at them, the less effective it is. they develop a thicker skin. this would explain why someone could park blocking a small one way street and be unmoved by the honking from others. it is a constant sound of the city, long term honking. (i was at the open air market the other day and heard extreme honking followed by long tirades of yelling. even the vegetable vendor rolled her eyes and made some remark.) they know the rules and where the line is, that should not be crossed. every year, in protest of some new proposed rule, small business owners will riot and burn cars, which seems to go unpunished – just part of the tradition. whereas, our landlord knew that no one would cash the deposit check he lost, because they would go to prison for that. anyway, it seems that this classroom crisis is much ado about nothing, but that might just be a reflection of this badly behaved american. perhaps the french could point to the incredibly disrespectful and out-of-control american classrooms, though, there seem to be plenty of those in france as well. this is a highly respected school and of course, they expect the highest quality students. i guess, our foreign kids just need to learn the rules. Print this post