It was a usual day after school. I was going home by bus and was sitting in the front and looking out the window. Sometimes, I looked in the driver’s mirror and I would watch the people who were behind me. Everything was new and unusual — the yellow bus, people speaking a foreign language, even the driver. I was watching through the driver’s small mirror and I found many interesting subjects. It seemed like I had seen everything that was possible to see in this bus. Suddenly, I glanced at the guy who was sitting near me. His mouth was open and he was playing with something on his tongue — it was a tongue ring. I was shocked. I had seen this thing before many times in Russia and here in America. But I never thought that American schools allowed it. In my school in Russia, the student would be expelled. The Russian school would never allow the students (boys) to color their hair or come with torn jeans and in a black T-shirt with the inscription “The bad days of frog,” especially with a picture on the back that shows the frog bloody and half dead. After this you will think that Russian students wear uniforms, and the school has lots of rules. That is not correct. On the contrary, there are less rules in Russia then in American schools. It’s hard to believe, but the usual number of absences in a school year in Russia is about 20 or 30 classes. Last year, I missed 26 classes and I did not get in trouble. Of course, boys have more absences because usually they are more irresponsible than girls. Last year the maximum amount of missed days was about 78. But if you miss classes it’s really hard to make up all the work after school, because our teachers do not work with students after classes. Of course you may ask for help, but it’s the choice of the student. Here in America, teachers demand you to stay after school. The teacher can allow you to make up work at home or to do it after school. The other thing which is still odd for me is lockers. In Russia, you will never see a locker in school. This is not because we have no money to make them or that school authorities are lazy. This is because we don’t need lockers in Russian schools. The usual Russian textbook is two to three times smaller than American books. That’s why Russian students can keep them in backpacks. There is also no lunch in my native school because usually lessons finish at 1:30 or 2 p.m. The majority of Russian schools don’t have as many activities after school compared to American schools, so we don’t need to keep our sport clothes in lockers. In my school in Russia there is only one sport activity, the volleyball team. That is why most of the students attend sports or other clubs out of school. The other difference is the grade system. The highest mark in my country is five and the worst is two. That is why sometimes it’s more difficult to get good grades in Russia. If you make one mistake, you don’t get a five (like an “A” here), you get a four. If you make two mistakes, you get a three, and so on. Finally, this yellow bus is also one of the specific things which belongs only to American schools. In Russia, they don’t care how their students get to school in the morning and by which way kids return home after school. I am so lucky that this whole year I don’t have to worry about transportation to school. |
