Our Cultural Lense.

All of us arrive at ideas with pre-conceived notions of how things should be, based on previous experience, cultural influence, education and popular culture. So, introducing the idea of a school dance was an idea I floated with Great Caution. It was a good thing too. At our weekly Administrators meeting, which consists of myself (“The Canadian Principal”) and 6 other Chinese Administrators, I proposed the idea of a school dance. The moments of silence, shifting eyes, uncomfortable silence, and then the metaphorical gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair that followed were more than I expected. And then came the questions: “What about safety? Will the students be wearing masks? (I think one of their versions of a school dance may be based on the Peking Opera). Will they paint their faces? What about the cars that will be parked out front causing a traffic jam? Who will teach the students how to dance? Will you teach them a waltz? What about ballroom dancing? Maybe salsa? When will they eat? …” It took well over an hour to unfold the notion of a School Dance. Now, to making it work. There is a lot riding on this. Two weeks till show time!