First Day--the stereotypes

(A photo of the school from its website.)

What does your average high school student in Madrid think about us Americans. Their answers may suprise you.

I work in the Institute of Secondary Education (I.E.S.) Parque de Lisboa in the suburb of Alcorcon just south of Central Madrid. (Interestingly, primary schools are called colegios or "coles" for short, and high schools are called institutos.) It is about a 45 minute commute from my barrio (i.e. neighborhood) of Ciudad Lineal in Central Madrid. I wake up at 6:50 a.m., walk just two short blocks through the dark morning streets, and climb down the steps that lead to my metro stop. Madrid, it must be said, has one of the most sophiscated metro systems I have ever seen. It is clean, relatively safe, and is well-connected to just about any location in Central Madrid. For example, it can take me just twenty minutes to get from Ciudad Lineal at the far northeast corner of the city, all the way to Puerta del Sol which is at the heart of Madrid.

(One of the many metro entrances in Madrid)

I got to my first class at the razor's edge of 8:30, just making it. Trying to create the best first impression, I walked firmly and proudly into the Spanish equivalant of an 8th grade class--1st year students. My motivation was one that is often recommended: walk in a room as if you were the host of a talk show. I let out a booming "goodmorning" as I strode across the room to my colleagues desk on the other side. Carrying my Samnsonite computer bag, I placed it decisively on the desk, letting out a louder "goodmorning" to recieve the appropriate class echo. Every seasoned teacher (which I'm yet to be) knows that the first day is one big elaborate mind game, letting students know that you are a prescence to be reckoned with. Since my teacher was not yet in the room, I took that time to go around the room shaking hands, asking for the student's names and what they did during the summer. A useful maxim for a teacher to carry in her pocket is to know that the dual task of establishing good personal and collective relationships with students is the key to classroom management.

The demographics of all the classes I saw that day are quite diverse. If I gave you a class picture of a average classroom in the United States and another from Madrid, perhaps you would not tell the difference. Students with pale skin and red hair, Morrocans with dark skin, central American students, and even asians are just some of the diverse outer features of my classroom. This diversity points obliquely to one of the current hot button issues in current Spanish politics--the recent influx of immigrants.

The teacher (keep in mind that I am an English teacher's assistant) came in the room and introduced me. Without knowing beforehand, she asked me on the spot to give a short charla, or talk, for the rest of the period. I hit my palms together, smiled assertively and introduced myself to the students, saying my name, what was my position in the classroom for the rest of the year and where I was from.

I have lived in New Jersey for over 14 years and it is still difficult to say anything broad and definitive about the Garden State. To me New Jersey is one large suburban bridge between Philadelphia and New York City, the Jersey turnpike being its spinal cord (those from central Jersey must forgive me). It is home to Atlantic City, the shallower and tackier little brother of the already shallow and tacky Las Vegas. Of course, I didin't say all this, I just referred to "the cities." Almost all the students knew about New York, and a handful have heard of Philadelphia. But if you mention the 76's or Allen Iverson, the boys will know that even more.

(The New Jersey Turnpike headed towards New York. The beauty of my state monument brings tears to my eye.)

I gave this class the same short speech I gave all the classes that day: "I know I'm going to learn alot about Spain and you are going to learn alot about the United States. But what I think you don't know is that I'm going to also learn about my country because I'll be seeing through your eyes. Each and everyone of you can help me look at my country in new ways."

I went on to talk about stereotypes. I asked them what did they think were the stereotypes of their country. They gave me blank faces. My cooperating teacher said, "Well, of course, we can all dance and sing flamenco." She mockingly rolled her wrist and stomp her foot in that iconic flamenco gesture. One of the students piped out, "But that's all in the south. Those are southern things," referring to the fact that flamenco originates and is deep rooted in the culture of the southernmost state of Andulcia. Another student said that people think they are all bull killers, a comment that reminds one of that deeply traditional ritual sacrifice of bulls that is as controversial as ever in Spain. Recently their were animal rights protest against the festival Toro de la Vega, where the villagers of Vega performed their annual tradition--the villagers chased and tortured a bull around the village and ended the tradition with the ripping of its testicles, which were paraded joyusly around the village (:-(). I told them that a stereotype about the Spanish people is that they all sleep too much and they're not hard workers, a stereotype that I know is not true but which is reinforced to the world by the Siesta.

"But what about stereotypes about my country. What comes to your mind when you think about Americans," I asked the class.

"I see a fat man eating a hamburger," one female student said. This was a popular stereotype across all the classroom that day. We eat out for all meals and are addictive to fast food. Our diet consists of hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza. Unfortunatley, we cannot doubt that there is a shred of truth to this.

("I'll gladly pay Tuesday for a hamburger today")

"Your people are very rich," was another popular response. The dominace of our celebrity culture definitely gives off this impression. We are, for now, the richest country in the world. But we know that disparities of wealth are very wide and the face of poverty hangs like a cloud below even the tallest of our skyscrapers.

As one very young student put it:"Americans are, como se dice.....like they are better than everyone."

Me: "Arrogant?"

"Yes, they are very arrogant."

I think this stereotype is key. It points to the double-edge feature of the American character: our unbounded optimism and our sense of superiority, our steadfast confidence and our self-satisfied view of ourselves.

On a note of closure. I told the students about the exciting times that are ahead for my country. "There is going to be a very important election", I said. "Does anybody know who is running for president?" Most of the students answered correctly: Barack Obama and John McCain. Talking with my teacher after class she told me that in the newspapers in Spain, American politics gets as much or more coverage than the politics of her own country. Obama is perhaps more a celebrity than Spain's president Zapatero. It's hard not to feel like my country rules the world when I could follow our elections perfectly by opening the pages of El Pais or El Mundo.