The first day of school . . .

Being educators ourselves for over 30-years there is always a certain amount of interest in seeing how other school sytems function. Naturally, we are very inquisitive of how the schools operate in Latvia.

We have been asking around for a couple of weeks, mainly to our youth group and other students, about what to expect for the first days of school. We kept getting answers like a 'parade' or 'fun' or 'it's just school, you know?'. Last week we even visited and toured a middle school and met with a principal and some of the teachers. No one seemed stressed out, upset or in a hurry (unlike their counterparts in Texas before their first week).

So, the big day arrived on Monday. To say they do things differently is a mild understatement. First of all, they do have parades. Depending on the age group the students may march only around the school or the older kids actually march all the way down to the city center and have a brief ceremony and march back (see the photos below). The first day is actually called 'The Day of Learning'.

About 9:30 or 10:00 on Monday morning we began to notice a large amount of kids all over town. Some were with parents and I could tell they were getting the last of their school supply list purchased but many were just hanging out and having fun. We caught up to a couple of young friends and they told us they only had to go for 2-hours (2-classes) on the first day. We thought that was pretty strange but they stuck to their story. I'm guessing here, but I assume the idea is to slowly get the students back into school-mode, you don't want to rush them or they might blow a brain gasket or something.

The rest of the first day is spent having a good time around town until 3:00pm. All the students head to Maija Parks for a 'fun-party'. Free food, music, games and give-aways are all part of the action. This goes on until 7:00pm when a free music concert kicks-off in Castle Park. Several bands are there to entertain and it lasts until 11:00pm.

Next day arrives and we're thinking surely they will get them back into the 8:00--3:45 grind. Nope, seems that on the second day you only stay until 12:00. You have now met about 3/4 of your teachers and you are slowly getting back into the swing of things because there are no parties or concerts scheduled for Tuesday night.

Today was day-3 and the kids had to stay ALL-day. Can you imagine the hardship that must put on these poor kids? Wait! The kids say that today will be an all-day affair but it is also 'sports-day' and they will have competitions between the classes in several different games.

We have Youth Meeting tonight so I am very interested to see what is on the agenda for the students at school on Thursday and Friday. It is going to be very interesting to see the differences in our systems as we go through the year.


We can only hope that George Bush and his band of educrats don't talk this government into the NO LATVIAN LEFT BEHIND law.



(click on picture for large view)