Hierarchies

Daily writing experience - day 12

Hierarchies

My first three years of elementary school happened at a private Evangelical school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Colegio Evangélico La Patria.

Quetzaltenango, Xela or Xelaju USA the second largest city in a highly centralized country where access to high quality education is very dependent on location.   It has been an important cultural center given its size, geographic location in the Western Highlands, and the fact that it was once the capital of the Sixth State of the Central American Federation along with Quiché, Retalhuleu, Sololá, Totonicapán, Suchitepéquez and Huehuetenango from 1838 to 1840 when it was reabsorbed by force. 

In my classroom, wooden classroom desks with a metal shelf underneath the seat (where you were expected to place your backpack, but the kid behind you could put their feet on it too) were arranged in several columns so the teacher could walk between students from front to back.  

Students were seated according to their average scores.  The student in the first seat, on the first column closest to the classroom door had the highest grades in the classroom. The student immediately behind had the second highest grades.  And the student at the last seat in the furthest column from the door had the worst scores in the whole class.

I worked to stay in the top scores so I could have a seat near the front.  Although our family wasn't religious, I even had good grades in Bible Study, and perfect attendance to the biweekly religious services because they counted towards the overall average score that determined the seating.  

When the class went out to recess, the student closest to the door would leave the classroom first.  The classroom was locked after the last kid left the room.  We lined up by our seating arrangement in the yard when the end of recess bell rang.  We were then escorted to the classroom by our teacher who would unlock the class, and let us inside in order.   When I forgot something inside the locked classroom, I had to find the school's caretaker to request he open the classroom, escort me, and make sure I only took what was mine.

When I arrived at University Hills Elementary school in Las Cruces, the desks were separate from the chairs. The desktop had boxes underneath where kids kept their books and other supplies. I marveled at the fact that kids willingly left boxes of crayons, scissors, and all manner of other things in their desks.  Students were seated in groups of 4, except when we had tests.  

We would line up by last name alphabetical order, and since my maiden name is Santizo, that meant I was mostly toward the back of the line.   This messed with my head because I had internalized that being in the back of the line meant you were not a good student.  

The most jarring difference was the fact that the classroom door was never locked… Not when we went to recess… Not when we went to lunch… Not when we went to the auditorium… And you could always go back if you forgot something without needing adult supervision!  

Are you aware of the hierarchies around you?