Ecole Montriond

Reminding drivers: school in session again!

This is Montriond, where Michael and Jack began school today - typical turn-of-century school building, where kids play in the yard; very nice park across the street. It's a 13 minute residential walk with morning/afternoon sessions & a 2 hour lunch, which kids come home for.

Madame Massy had the children swing by Jack's desk and shake his hand! This kind of sociality is learned early, as each child greets the teacher and enters the shared public space with respect. They will share such spaces all their lives, in contrast to Americans who move privately in public spaces - the way we do with cars on streets. This enacts a level of accountability and personal stake we generally only experience in churches, if at that.

Madame Massy

Madame Reischer (below) with intern (right) and Michael at one of the yellow desktops. The fellow looking at me is Pierre, who really loved playing with Jack 3 years ago (he still wears big glasses). Desks are in sets of 4,

where Jack's are in pairs

The boys were excited to begin school, getting their supplies ready; pencil case, notebooks, backpack, classroom slippers - a bit like AWANA; ie a world that is theirs.

That's Jack (left) negotiating the playground. He never attended Montriond, so doesn't have playmates welcoming him back. On the other hand, he told me, "A girl likes me. Gave me candy." I saw him take this candy (SUGUS: popular Swiss, Starburst-like)and dangle it in front of children, trying to win affection, I think. Michael, on the other hand, has joined a band of boys, playing all through the forest after school let out today.

Of the two, Jack will have the easier transition - just rolls with things - while Michael has hurdles to climb; some are just there, others are his own making. From day 1 in China, Michael used his winning personality to get him places, but the early weeks here will be hard - he was shell-shocked in class today - sacrificing his social aptitude; a trade he's never made in his life.

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Swiss schools are largely fun at this age; tracking begins in earnest 5th grade, determining academic & vocational lines where 20% go on to university. As in Japan, elementary is less academic (ie less abstract); the emphasis is on learning to focus, follow instructions, hand-eye coordination, drawing - exploring a tactile world as a foundation for intellectual training.

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For now, we decided to let the boys be outgoing Americans when out in public, although Michael takes this up a notch when singing at the top of his lungs; this is definitively un-Swiss, but maybe a little give-and-take is OK? 70% live in apartments, so they learn to be contained, resembling behavior we associate with kids from hands-on parenting. These kids are sweet, lacking the who-gives-a-rip vibe you sometimes see in American youth culture empowered by media.

It dawned on me the other day that superior dining behavior is probably due to the fact that these kids eat twice as many meals at home; not just scarfing, but trained how to be at a table. A way of doing things - ritual, if you will - tied to eating, talking, entering buildings, studying, until second-nature. Not outside the box; this approach to values, precisely, the box. How to own it.