learning to stand in line
[email protected]
In a message dated 6/2/05 6:16:28 AM, kbcdlovejo@... writes:
<< From Susan Shay:
"Won't they miss out on learning a lot of important stuff? I mean,
how will they ever learn to stand in line?" >>
My kids know how to stand in line in different circumstances. Trying to get
into an R rated movie if you're not old enough, act very mature in the line,
and not giddy. Stand next to a friendly-looking family that might be willing
to say you're with them, and be nice to them in case you see they're carding
people, when you get closer.
But standing in lines in the U.S. (or "on line" as they do in NYC, because
English is spoken strangely there) hardly prepares people to queue up in the
U.K. If two people are waiting for a bus, they queue. If somoene fails to
queue properly, one of the older women there will "snip you," meaning tell you to
do it and to do it right, and now. It doesn't matter that the bus isn't
coming for fifteen minutes.
Where we live, we're used to milling around but knowing who was there just
before us, so we defer to those who were there earlier, and then defer to the
elderly or the in-a-big-hurry. Even at checkouts at the grocery store, the line
might look (but not be) kinda nebulous, as those who are waiting keep
shopping around the area. My favorite post office has a "take a number" system,
with places to sit and lots of wall displays to look at while you wait.
Meanwhile, schoolkids learn that getting in line means shoving and arguing
and then getting yelled at, and they learn how to look innocent while pinching
or stepping on other kids without it being apparent or proveable that they did.
My kids didn't learn that.
I was standing in line outside the building waiting for the teacher to come
and lead us into the classroom after lunch when I heard that President Kennedy
had been shot.
Sandra
<< From Susan Shay:
"Won't they miss out on learning a lot of important stuff? I mean,
how will they ever learn to stand in line?" >>
My kids know how to stand in line in different circumstances. Trying to get
into an R rated movie if you're not old enough, act very mature in the line,
and not giddy. Stand next to a friendly-looking family that might be willing
to say you're with them, and be nice to them in case you see they're carding
people, when you get closer.
But standing in lines in the U.S. (or "on line" as they do in NYC, because
English is spoken strangely there) hardly prepares people to queue up in the
U.K. If two people are waiting for a bus, they queue. If somoene fails to
queue properly, one of the older women there will "snip you," meaning tell you to
do it and to do it right, and now. It doesn't matter that the bus isn't
coming for fifteen minutes.
Where we live, we're used to milling around but knowing who was there just
before us, so we defer to those who were there earlier, and then defer to the
elderly or the in-a-big-hurry. Even at checkouts at the grocery store, the line
might look (but not be) kinda nebulous, as those who are waiting keep
shopping around the area. My favorite post office has a "take a number" system,
with places to sit and lots of wall displays to look at while you wait.
Meanwhile, schoolkids learn that getting in line means shoving and arguing
and then getting yelled at, and they learn how to look innocent while pinching
or stepping on other kids without it being apparent or proveable that they did.
My kids didn't learn that.
I was standing in line outside the building waiting for the teacher to come
and lead us into the classroom after lunch when I heard that President Kennedy
had been shot.
Sandra