The assembly you described was otherworldly in so many ways! The meditation, corporal punishment, adult-child touching, I don't know that any of it would have flown at any school I've been to! What do we do in the US that would be inappropriate nowadays in Thailand? Lack of respect for adults, maybe? And what is the price of raising kids in our system instead of the Thai one - which do you like better?
And how do you feel? Now that you've been in the country for a while, what are your reactions? Are some of PiA's culture shock predictions already beginning to come true?
Ticino was very romantic. The Italian, lake, mountains, Prosecco, and local food combined strong and sweet on the early palate but were a little bitter on the finish.
Love,
D
It's been raining a lot, so I don't know when I'll get to motorbiking again.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it's possible to directly compare two school systems when basic cultural beliefs about schooling and people are different. It's true that some of my students are well behaved and obedient, but I also just came from a class where 7th graders were punching each other, humping the floor, hanging out of the windows and openly making fun of me and the other teacher.
By the end of it I was looking for a switch myself!
Of course I like the system I grew up with better, but is there any value in making a judgment like that? It just tells me that I'm in a foreign country where I don't really understand what is going on and thus feel incredibly uncomfortable at times.