MeiWei went to PS for 2 years. The most she learned was how to count to three. As in the number of DOTS it would take to get a nasty-gram sent home from the teacher....As in "3 dots, you're sunk."
Apparently the teacher's job, along with guiding 20+ little faces through readers and number lines, was also to walk around with a Magic Marker poised to strike a special "report card" on each child's desk. Of course, most kids probably never even knew of the system, they were THAT kind of kid. But MeiWei got to know it all too soon.
This of course was supposed to be an effective Pavlovian tool to shape behaviors. The child would certainly NOT want to get dots, so she would be shamed into altering her actions. That was their plan, anyway.
But they hadn't encountered Mei. She was non-plussed about dots. Dots, shmots. You could turn her into a dalmatian and she'd smile brightly.
The problem was, she was much too interested in what was going on around her. Naughty girl. No looking at your classmate--even if we butt his desk next to yours. And two other kids. No dropping your pencil, breaking your crayon, needing too much help. (?) No being distracted by the open-plan classrooms that allow teachers and students from other classes to drift in and out of your line of sight all day while announcements interrrupt the already-established din.
Naughty, naughty girl. There's something wrong with you. You just don't pay attention.
