School: Reality vs Wish

I’m sure every school has at least one thing that we wish was different, or maybe it doesn’t have one thing that we want. Either way, nothing’s perfect, but I wonder what my version of a perfect school would be? But first, before I start comparing my perfect school to my real school, I guess I need to tell you about real school first.

I go to the International School of Dakar (ISD), which is in Senegal for those who don’t know. It’s a great school as well. It’s probably as close to perfect as it gets when we’re talking about school, but there are somethings I wish would change. We have four classes a day, each one eighty minutes. I have Social Studies, Math, Music, and Technology on one day, and Science, French, Language Arts (LA), and Physical Education (PE) on another. We alternate between those classes every day, so we never have the same class two days in a row. We’re also on this weird eight-day rotation schedule. It controls the order of our classes that day. We have the same classes every-other-day, but not in the same order. We have what is called “extended block” at the end of our second class on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Extended block is just an extra half-hour for us to work on school stuff of our choice. On Monday, instead of extended block, we have community meeting, and on Thursday we have advisory. We have a twenty-minute lunch break after extended block/community meeting/advisory. We also have ten-minute breaks between classes to get from one end of campus to the other. For lunch, you can bring your lunch, or there is a great place on campus called “Shady Shack” where you can order food.

I think that is all I can say about my school for now. But now I want to change some things and make it the perfect school!

First off, we need a longer lunch. Twenty minutes is not nearly enough and not healthy because we don’t have time to eat slowly! We have to scarf down our food. I’d rather they cut extended block short and gave us longer lunch. On days where there is advisory or community meeting, make the breaks between classes shorter, start advisory or community meeting sooner, end it sooner, longer lunch! Also, I am a hard-core ping-ponger, so it’d be great if they put in a ping-pong table. These are really my main wishes for this school, but here are a few unrealistic or unnecessary wishes to make school a dream.

  1. No homework, cause like, who wants to do homework?
  2. Start school at 9:30. I need to sleep.
  3. Serve french fries on days other than Friday. Shady Shack only serves fries on Friday, but who doesn’t like fries?
  4. Have a baobab tree on campus. Put like a latter or something on it. Let people climb on it. Maybe put a treehouse?
  5. Put a Tarzan swing by the pool. It’s so much fun flying into a pool!

And that’s it! My dream school. Oh, and one more thing. When there are P.D days, the day becomes a half day. I think we should just not come to school. It is so inconvenient for parents to pick us up in the middle of the day when they have work!

11 thoughts on “School: Reality vs Wish

  1. Hi
    This post was very interesting, now I know a lot of interesting about schools in Senegal. Very cool post.
    P.S.: in my blog you can read about Ukrainian schools.

  2. This is a great post and your school sounds really interesting and fun! The school I go to doesn’t even have a cafeteria but, our lunch is 20 minutes too and I agree that it’s not enough time at all! One quick question for you. What is your favorite activity to do when you get home from school! Thanks! come check out my blog http://crsch92d.edublogs.org/
    -Caleigh

  3. Dear Caleb,
    It was really cool to hear what your dream school would be like. Also, I totally agree with you when you say homework is not needed. I thought my schedule was hectic, but compared to yours it is not, and I kind of envy you for that. I always know what is going on at my school, at least my schedule, and there is no variety. I really wish it could be like yours, except for the slow lunch, then again, time really flies. Your blog looks really cool. Could you come and visit my blog sometime? Here is the link: http://nzgar.edublogs.org/. Thanks

  4. Hey Caleb!
    I found your blog really interesting. My school isn’t really that much like yours since we have the same four classes every day and we don’t have a cafeteria, but I totally agree with the homework thing. Last year I spent at least two hours on homework every night and this year I spend about thirty minutes on homework. Which isn’t a lot of homework but when your sick on a day of school and have no idea what you had to do for homework and you get really stressed it just isn’t fun. Plus, it gives kids less time to study for tests and quizzes. Also, a Tarzan swing next to a pool at school also sounds really awesome and now I want a Tarzan swing and a pool at my school.
    Anyway, what is your favorite thing to do after you get home from school?
    Do you play any sports?
    Whats your favorite song?
    Thanks, and please check out my blog! http://sxwie.edublogs.org/
    -Sarah W.

  5. Hi Caleb! My name is Ellie, and I really enjoyed your post. At my school we have 4 classes that never change, so I like that you have a varied week! I also thought it was cool that you have a Shady Shack, I wish my school had one! If I could add one thing to my school it would be a Shady Shack! You’re a very good writer and I look forward to reading more on your blog! Please visit mine at https://elbow92d.edublogs.org/ . Also what is your favorite food? Mine is pizza! Thanks! – Ellie ❤

  6. Hi Caleb!!
    Your school sounds so cool!! Don’t worry, I feel you. Middle Schoolers at our school only get 20 minutes to eat, and I think we need at least 30 minutes. I wish my school has a Tarzan swing next to our school pool too.
    Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself!! I am Naho from Hongwanji Mission School in Hawaii. Comment on my blog at
    http://hongwanjimissionschool.edublogs.org

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