We went to see an assembly at Henry's school yesterday. He was receiving a Merit Award for his work in Music class!
The whole campus is made up of separate buildings. Students move from one class to another or to the cafeteria by walking outside. Classroom doors are usually left open to the outside. The cafeteria has giant garage doors on the side that remain open to the outside. During the assembly, all the parents just showed up, parked, and walked in to the cafeteria.
In Utah, and most schools in America, you have to go to the office, and have the staff open the locked doors that grant access to the school. At Henry's school there are bullet proof glass doors that block unwelcomed visitors from getting close to classrooms. And each classroom door locks automatically. You can't get in without a key. Not even the students.
So when I was watching the assembly, I realized the entire student body was sitting there together, with the garage doors wide open, with no barriers to access. I thought, “Oh my gosh, anyone could walk in here and…” I will spare the remaining details for the Aussies…but Americans know exactly how to finish that sentence.
A couple of weeks ago, Henry forgot his recess snack. I rode my bike right up to his classroom. His backpack hangs outside, so I walked right up and put it in his pack. It was even unzipped!
Aussies would say, of course I should be able to have access to my own child at school. Only Americans find this alarming. Until stepping away you can’t see the fear we've conditioned our children and parents to absorb everyday, and the extent of protections we feel are necessary to shield them from people who think their rights outweigh the safety of children going to school.
(Here is another experience I had during our stay in Melbourne 8 years ago.)
The video below shows a bit of the campus at the beginning:
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