The School Drama … how it began

Several of you know some part of this story. But, I have to start at the beginning in order for the ending to make sense. So, skim over the parts you know … but not too fast, because there may be some vital detail that you had missed the first go around.

As soon as we knew we were coming out here, I started looking up the school situation for the kids. I did my research and made my lists. Some schools were immediately disregarded, others needed to be set up with pros and cons in an Excel spreadsheet, and there were 2 right off the bat that were on the “definitely perfect” list … both with a British curriculum. There was a third school … an American one … that everyone was all abuzz about. It seemed like all the people we knew who were coming here, as well as Van’s boss who had already been here almost a year, were ape-poop about this place. The problem was, I wasn’t sold by what I saw on their website.
It was very vague about what they taught, other than to tell that it was an American curriculum and that they were quite proud of how technologically advanced they were. There wasn’t a very impressive syllabus or any real information other than to say “Children will also dictate their own stories and begin to write using temporary spelling.” (and that’s taken straight off their website … they didn’t bother to explain what “temporary spelling” was, but now I have an idea). It also did say that the Kindergarten kids would be learning to “count to 10”, which I really had to read a few times before I understood that they truly believed it was some great feat for a 5-6 year old to count to 10.

Well, I put this one on the list of schools I wanted to visit when we came here in April. The two British ones and this one American one. I figured I’d go in person and see what it was all about and get some real answers about what they thought they would be teaching Connor. I assumed I had to be missing something since everyone we’d talked to was so excited about this place.
We went to the British School of Bahrain first thing, on that first morning we were here. Quite impressed with the tour and information we got about the school. Working on a British curriculum, their school age starts at 3, where ours starts at 5, so Kayleigh would be the perfect age to get into that deal. What we call Kindergarten, is called Year 1, which is where Connor would be. The second British school was quite a bit bigger, but runs on the same curriculum and has the same schedules.

Then we went to this American based school. Well … we didn’t actually go to the school, because there wasn’t an actual school to go to yet. It was a brand new deal and at that time, I’m not even sure they had started construction on it. We visited their office, which is in a mall not too far from our house now. The first lady we met gave me their promotional folder and I immediately started looking through it to find some detailed list of what they taught their kids. All I found was letters to the perspective student family, an artist’s rendering of what the school would look like, and forms to fill out. I asked the lady if they had any syllabus or class schedule … she told me it was posted on their website. Great! So, that would be a “no”, they didn’t have any such thing.

Then, the director of the school came in and was bigger than life. All smiles, all sales, all business. As it turns out, he had to be, because the tuition for this school for a Kindergartener is BD5600, which comes to roughly $14,800. I’m not kidding. For a 5-year-old to spend a year learning to count to 10 and practicing “temporary spelling”. Oh … but here is the most exciting part of the deal … starting in 1st or 2nd grade, each student will have a personal laptop in their classroom where they will be doing all their school work. All the computers are connected to some great mother computer where the kids don’t ever have to pick up a pencil. All their homework is done on the computer … they log on to the main school computer from their house and download their lessons and do them that way. THEN, they turn them in immediately, so the teachers can be grading their stuff before they ever get to class the next morning. Technology.
I told him that I was kind of an old fashioned gal and I wondered where the writing came in … actually putting pen to paper, developing skills to form letters properly. Well, he was glad I asked that question, he told me … they understand the importance of fine motor skills and that’s why they focused on that stuff in Kindergarten and 1st grade … so that then they got to 2nd grade they would be ready to go online. So, there ya go … done working on writing by the time the kids are 7. Oh … but he went on to tell us that the truth is, everything is done on the computer anymore. No one actually writes by hand these days, so it’s most important that the kids learn how to get their point across in the technological age we are in. So, the handwriting thing really isn’t that important, and let’s face it, with spell check on all the word processing programs, perfect spelling isn’t critical. For that matter, by the time the kid is in 4th or 5th grade, if they can’t spell, you just move on. Yes … that is what the director of this school told me. And, it’s darn near a direct quote.

I had just found out what “temporary spelling” was. It’s apparently the sounding out of phonics until you are old enough to get a laptop with spell check.
Needless to say, we applied at both of the British schools and I was certain there was no amount of money that someone could pay me that would convince me to make an application at that place.

Okay … I’ve written a lot here. Take a breather and I’ll get part 2 of this saga working …