When school gets out

This should be an entry with photos, but isn't

I spent the morning doing work emails and setting up appointments with archives, and went out briefly at around 1:00 today to go to the bank (where I got to use my brand new ATM card), and do some minor food shopping.  I happened to head out just as the multiple elementary schools around me were being dismissed for lunch, which inevitably suggested a modified version of the "Teddy Bears' Picnic" along the lines of "at one o'clock, their mommies and daddies will take them home to eat, because they're hungry little teddy bears."  There was the public school down the block, and the two little Catholic schools nearby, the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores and the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de la Merced.  The former has a stylish green D (I presume for Dolores) logo on their polo shirts and sweatpants that looks rather like the Ryanair lyre.  The latter does not have as distinctive uniforms, but I happened to walk past them on the way to the bank, so I know who they are.  (The public school doesn't have any uniforms at all.)



In fact, Catholic school uniforms here seem to be along the lines of public school uniforms at home, in that they involve white polo shirts or blouses (with logo) and then either gym sweatpants or shorts or slacks or (for the girls) skirts (which can be either pleated or unpleated), or (again for the little girls) little jumpers with skirts.  So the kids don't actually look too uniform, although there seems to be a preference for black shoes.  Almost all the kids have bookbags with wheels, which they pull along behind them like suitcases rather than carrying on their backs (except for the very small ones, who have parents who carry their bags for them, so you see a tiny unencumbered person walking along next to an adult who has a tiny bookbag - usually emblazoned with a cartoon character - slung over one shoulder).  The wheelie knapsacks are quite colorful and not at all uniform, which makes a funny contrast with the semi-uniforms.  I happened to walk behind a trio of pre-adolescent girls in white blouses and gray regulation skirts, towing their bookbags behind them for a block or so.  With their similar outfits and shoes, and proportionally sized wheelie bags, they looked like little miniature flight attendants.  (Given how much the budget airlines are cutting back on space, they'll probably start hiring miniature flight attendants soon as they'll be the only ones able to fit in the aisles.)

On my return trip I saw clumps of high school students who had obviously also just gotten out (a bit later).  High school kids apparently carry bookbags on their backs, because that's the cool way, and do not wear uniforms (except insofar as jeans can be considered a uniform).

All in all, I was struck by how civilized the children seemed, possibly because they are not crammed into incredibly long school days, but get to have a large meal and good long nap and/or play time in the middle of the day.  I would add that in the San Isidro neighborhood of Carabanchel at least the children being picked up from the same school show a diversity that precious few elementary schools in New York can boast.  The neighborhood is diverse, and the schools do seem to reflect that, in that in addition to the background of majority European faces (I presume Spaniards, but with little ones they could be from elsewhere in Europe and you wouldn't immediately tell by accent because they have flexible little tongues and brains) there were also significant minority of Asian and African children, and several who looked like they could be from Latin America.  Good for the Carabanchel schools.

I've been invited to give a couple of talks at the Complutense about my research to both international students and advanced students of Anglophone literature, and while I'm delighted to talk to undergraduates, and mean to accept the very kind invitations, I must admit I still wish there was a way I could get inside the local schools here.  I can't help it, I'm curious.  Everyone says that Spanish (primary) education is "very traditional" and it gets critiqued a lot, but I'd still like to see a class in a high school, and maybe a junior high school.  It's not that I miss high school teaching (much) but I do still wonder how it gets done in other parts of the world.  This requires further thought, and possibly discussion with Madrid friends who have connections to the education system here.  If I'm living in the neighborhood I feel like I should get to see the inside of the schools.  To be continued....