clash of crafts and systems…

I have learned a valuable lesson over the last couple days while helping Hailey’s class prepare for their end of the year program.  My idea of school crafts and the Moroccan school system seriously clash.  I knew it was going to be an uphill battle when I asked if the kids could make a star project to hold while they sang “Twinkle twinkle little star” and the conversation went like this:

Teacher: The children do not have time to make things.

Me:  Oh, it won’t be a big project.  Just something simple and quick.

Teacher: The teachers usually make everything (*so I noticed when they made my Mother’s Day craft instead of my kids.)  The children need to spend their time studying- not doing art.

Me: Well, I’d really love for them to do their own little project.  It won’t take a lot of their time.  I’ll bring all the supplies and everything!

Teacher: Well, you’ll have to talk to the School Principal.  I’m just a teacher.

Thankfully the Principal was more than eager to allow my western ways into the school system and granted me permission for my craft.  So, I showed up yesterday with enough supplies for 40 kids.  (yikes, what an undertaking, right?!)  Well, I quickly discovered that most of the kids could barely color in their star and only a few knew how to use scissors.  The teachers stood over them and criticized their work and took over when the kids didn’t cut along the lines just right.  Then the teachers had all 40 kids sit in a room while the teachers did another art project.  Imagine trying to keep 40 kids sitting quietly (no talking, no moving, nothing) while they do a project that surely the kids could have done in the same amount of time!

To be perfectly honest, my first reaction was to scoop up my sweet little girl and take her out of there!  Maybe it was just my pregnant hormones, but my heart hurt to see a class of 1st graders that couldn’t do something that just seemed so basic to me.  I asked if they ever colored or cut with scissors at home and almost all of them said no.

I asked the teacher why the kids didn’t do more craft projects and she said that those kinds of things were for preschoolers and there is not enough time in the school system to do such frivolous things.  (Well, she didn’t say frivolous, but it was written in her expression.)  It’s not that I don’t see how smart Moroccan kids are- most are trilingual- but I felt a sense of loss for their creative side.  I walked away feeling unsettled- should I try to do little things in the coming year… you know, wiggle MY ways into the system.  Or should I just accept that their ways are not my ways and just do lots of arts and crafts at home with the kids??

Today I went with the kids to the theater to practice their songs and it made me feel a little better to see them singing and dancing.  Whew!  The arts are alive in Morocco!  They are simply fleshed out in a completely different way than the States.

Well, anyways!  After all that, I needed some time to decompress.  So, in between the electricity cutting out while Jack fixed a circuit breaker, making lunch, and driving Hailey to and from school for lunch break, I managed to check out Kristina’s color challenge.  Sheesh!  Live overseas is never dull!

I gave a little cheer when I saw the inspiration room!  I have this photo dog eared in all three of my IKEA catalogs (know you, just in case I lost a copy… or something like that!)  I love the cool, clean, and simple lines in the room along with the punch of sunny yellow.

My first reaction to the actual card I wanted to make was that it needed stripes.  So, I scored the cardstock and used my So Saffron marker to make dotted lines to reflect the stripes in the duvet.  I felt like the punches of Rose Red, Old Olive, and Going Gray should be kept to a minimum while that So saffron took center stage.  What do you all think?  I’m going to send this card to a friend who is getting ready to celebrate her anniversary.