Yesterday was Back To School night at the local high school. There was a Freshman parents only lecture at five thirty. There was a robocall twice that told us what to do, and I did it. I found the email, opened up the file, printed it, and gave it to Anthony to write what classes and where I was to go.
The man from the robocall, the counselor with the gravelly voice, opened the lecture. The other counselors finished . There were three for all the letters of the alphabet, the first part, the middle part, and the last for last names. Then There was another one for Intervention. I was surprised to learn what demerits are. If you are tardy to class it's kind of brutal. As the passing time between classes is coming to a close, like at the theater during intermission where they play the chimes, the gravelly voice counselor plays the theme from Jaws. And at the end, the teachers lock the doors. Then the counselor 'sweeps the halls' and everyone late gets a demerit. They need to give a lunch in detention to make it go to zero. Unexcused absences and other things take off four points. With six demerits you have Loss of Privileges. They didn't say what those are, but I imagine you can't go to dances, etc.
That's where the Saturday school comes in. You get to erase six demerits by going to Saturday school. If you've ever seen the movie The Breakfast Club that's what it's all about.
It's an American thing.
What surprised me was that many of the teachers were close to my age, or perhaps, a little older.
The language teacher looked very much like the Spanish teacher at my high school who wore her wedding dress to school on her anniversary every year. She was a little, um, 'different' and I noticed that the language teach was wearing a white lace dress. I went, hmmmm.
The women teachers all wore combinations of white and black. I picked up on that too.
I adore school. My father was a teacher, and I would often go to school with him. He also ran the playground after school to make a little extra money for the family.
I was delighted, absolutely delighted, to spend ten minutes in each of Anthony's classes and to meet his teachers.
To be honest, I would much rather go to school than have to work. I love to learn. I love it that much and I'd put up with all of the personality insanity of high school just to be able to learn. I felt alive!
One of the things I noticed is the weighting of the right side of the brain. We get children in school and we appeal to the way they learn by using both sides of the brain. Small, homelike groups where we are close to the teacher. Bright colors and creating art to help us learn.
There is music, dancing, and school seems like play.
Then everything changes.
Or does it?
Look around you to where there is music, dancing and fun. Perhaps we are still being taught, but it's outside the classroom so we don't realize we are being taught. By entertainment we are taught. By religious traditions we are taught. By socialization, social concepts, and routine...we are taught.
Try to make yourselves more aware of it.
Some of Anthony's classrooms were modern. One was an alternative classroom the teacher requested/submitted a grant proposal for, and it has wobbly stools. It was fun to sit on them. I love laboratory classes.
Learning traditions change over time. Some of his teachers teach online--through the computer. Others are pencil and paper still. The AP class is that way. Because the Advanced Placement test that gives college credit--I took one back in the day, AP American History and got a 5, the only one at the school--is given with pencil and paper.
Earth is a school. Your brain may be a 'sponge' and absorb information until age twenty-six.
But your soul never ages.
You are ALWAYS learning.
Gently, and sometimes, a little less so, the lessons are presented to you in increasing intensity until they are mastered. Then you go on to the next subject.
You are never going to stop learning about who you are, why you are here, and what makes you YOU. Your teachers are also your other classmates.
You are excellent students of the soul or else you wouldn't be here now at all. Now is a special time, we are told. And I believe it.
Have a good day at school!
Ross is smiling and waves hello. He's doing lots and you will see the results of his work later.
clap! clap!
Aloha and Mahalos,
Namaste,
Peace,
Ross and Carla
The Twins
