Change

Today, my eleven year old brother visited the secondary school that he will be attending next year. He was extremely excited beforehand. Squealing with excitement at the mere thought of the upcoming taster day and eagerly searching on Google Maps about how to get there even though he was going to be dropped off and picked up. I watched on, slightly bemused for I hadn’t experienced the same thrill when I went into secondary school all those years ago since mine did not have the ‘wow’ factor that his one has.

Or had.

It is a great school with excellent facilities and amazing records but for my younger brother, the one thing which has struck him are the rules. No touching students at all, walking in a straight line with your eyes fastened on the head of the person in front of you, sitting up straight, hands out of pockets, chanting some sort of mantra before each lesson and standing up when a teacher walks in. These are amongst the many rules that are constantly enforced.

I find it quite amusing but maybe that is just the older brother inside me thinking, yes maybe that is what he needs! I can see why there are these rules and how they help the school be a success but for my little brother-and all the other kids, it is like being thrown headfirst into the ocean. Primary School, with its unbridled joy, was a completely different world.

However, they will all soon get used to it, or so my brother hopefully tells me. For now though, we can tease my mum about not talking to her friends at the parent’s information evening, lest she gets bombarded with a tirade of shouting as my little brother did today.

Until Next Time

A Worried Student