Briton in a Bear Garden

The swap of 148 U.S. and British schoolteachers (TIME, Dec. 23) was not all a warm handshake across the sea. Pueblo, Colo, sent a teacher to London, got in exchange a pert, plain-spoken London schoolmarm named Miss Alice Elliott. When the Pueblo Lions Club asked for her honest impressions of U.S. schooling, Teacher Elliott startled the local Lions with a little roaring of her own. Excerpts:

"The first time I took charge of a study hall at Centennial High School, I thought I was in a bear garden. . . .* I have met rudeness and lack of control here more than anywhere else in the world [she has taught in England, India and Australia]. In America the child seems to govern the school, instead of school authorities governing the child. . . .

"The American child does not know how to study. He has never been taught, and so he thinks only of grades--not of education. ... In England we do not waste time grading; we go through the year and then have examinations to determine the amount of learning. [U.S.] children ... are all happy and smiling, but there is no serious study. I have 129 pupils and only 20 can study seriously.

"How can there be serious study and discipline when five minutes before the end of the period, a jazz tune or a Christmas carol comes over .the loudspeaker to disturb the lesson; that is the signal for everyone to talk.. . . Bells ring, and 1,200 students rush shrieking into the halls. A clock and bells are the dictators of the schools.

"And the forms that must be filled out! I wish I had kept account of the time spent filling forms. In England we check the register in the morning and that is all. This business of playing hooky [is] unheard of in England. . . . We trust [the children] and they do not cut. . . .

"Here the teachers never meet. Back home ... we have some social contacts. While the children have their free milk, the teachers have 20 minutes for a cup of tea and social intercourse. There are no bells ringing and no dictatorship rules. ... I like to be conscientious as a teacher of my own free will. ... I don't feel free in Centennial."

* The Lions, misunderstanding her accent, thought she said beer garden.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.