Lost Post #1: The Kids Are Alright

I'm sure some of you have heard me piss and moan about my kids. In fact, they are two amazing boys, whose adaptation to being thrust alone into the French public school system has been absolutely remarkable.

For example, the first day of school, my youngest son Andrew, who is 13 years old, had to go off on his own to his school, which is located quite a good distance away from our apartment, and which requires him to take Line 4 to Chatelet, a large, crowded station, then transfer to another line (the #1), then get off at the Hotel de Ville station, then walk through narrow, irregularly-placed streets to a school located on a side street. Go to this post and zoom in on the map if you don't believe me. The first day of school, he made it to the last stop, but had a little trouble finding the school, although he finally did get there. Then he had to go -- completely alone -- into a school where almost no one speaks English, into a class taught exclusively in French, with students from all over the world whom he does not know, and then deal with having to learn a new language.  Extraordinary.  I tried to imagine what it must have been like for him, and also to imagine what confidence it must be giving him to have mastered everything the way he has.

And he has mastered everything.  Suzie and I went to visit his teacher a few weeks ago after school, and she told us that he was perhaps her best student, and that if he were staying in Paris the next semester, he would almost certainly be moved into the "Welcome" class (in which instruction in French continues, but which also allows the students the have a few "regular" classes with the French students).  His teacher, by the way, was very impressive -- experienced, dedicated, with an obvious love for what she is doing and an obvious concern that her students succeed in integrating into the French school system.  She said that she was sorry to think that he would be leaving France -- perhaps the highest praise Andrew's ever gotten from a teacher.

He's also completely adjusted to life in the big city.  Metro trip across Paris alone?  Piece of cake.  Hang out with the French kids at the skatepark?  No big deal.  Pick up something at a restaurant or grocery store?  Just give me the money, Dad.  If anything, he's a little bored, because I think he could be learning French at a much quicker rate than he is, his class being contrained by the fact that a majority of students are Chinese, and have a much more difficult time learning French than someone like Andrew, whose native language is a western language like French.

My other son Will is also doing remarkably well.  In some ways, he had a more difficult task facing him, because he is going to a huge school (1800 students from grades 6-12) and because he has several classes (including one academic class, math) in "regular" classes with French students.  (Also, much to Andrew's delight, his intensive French class only meets 3 or 4 hours a day; we've also found him a math tutor who is helping him keep up with the math being learned by his class in Santa Rosa, which adds a few more hours to his schedule.)  I try to imagine what it is like for Will, sitting in a math class not geared toward foreigners, but for regular French students, trying to follow the teacher and learn the subject (which is taught using different methods and tools, at least the part I've seen).  But Will, too, has adjusted incredibly well to his new situation, and is doing great in school.  He has made friends and even has a date this weekend (I think) with a French girl (the first time, really, that he's asked someone out on a date; what a deal that it gets to happen for him in Paris!).  Like Andrew, I suspect that Will will have gained confidence by being here in ways he does not yet understand.

I had such fears before we came over here that once the kids started school, they would be stressed to the max and react to that stress by acting horribly.  Not that they haven't had their moments, but for the most part that has not happened.  If anything, they seem to have risen to the challenge, and as difficult as this is to believe, they seem to be a little more relaxed and confident here than at home.  They have been, in sum, remarkable -- resourceful, diligent, open-minded, flexible, adaptable, and much, much more calm than I could have imagined.  I am very, very, very proud of them.