Comparing Two Schools

I subbed today for the first time in a different school than the one I have been writing about in all the other blog entries I have written so far. The two schools draw from the same areas of the city's student population. Twenty or more buses pull up to it every morning, disgorging a similar mix of students, so one cannot say that any differences are due to differing ethnicities of the student body.

But what one can say is that the campus culture is strikingly different and that this creates marked differences in what a teacher experiences.

In school A, where I worked last year, the students dresseds in a particular way. The boys wore their pants slung low, "gangsta-style," so their brightly-colored silk or nylon underwear showed. The girls dressed as sexily as possible -- as one of our contrbutors here commented, because they have such low self-esteem that they think the only way they are of value is as sexual objects. In school B, you see very little dressing like either of these. You see almost no l.ow-slung pants on the boys and very few jeans embroidered with fancy designs. The girls wear clothes that are less revealing, less sexy.

In school A last year (I have not subbed there yet this year) there was no rule against electronic devices (cell phones, ipods). In school B, they are prohibited in class and are confiscated if used openly. In school A, the boys are allowed to wear hats and caps in the classroom. In school B, the principal will not allow hats or caps.

In each school there is the same ethnic mix of students, but different behaviors are allowed. My impression is that in School B a lot more learning takes place.