Had Spanish class yesterday. We had to give presentations, groups of two students demonstrating a recipe, in Spanish of course. That took about an hour, there aren't many students in the class.

Immediately following this our teacher mentioned that someone wanted to postpone a test scheduled for Thursday. There was a collective gasp as everyone's heart stopped beating for an instant at the prospect of another weekend of not studying.

"I will postpone it..." she said, pointing a finger as if admonishing us, "but you have to study this weekend."

Heads nod in unison, the bliss on some of the faces, the relief on others, told the teacher she was making these students very happy. She is a very nice lady, this girl from Spain, very excited all the time about filling young minds with new information. She has a heart of gold, and all her experiences growing up with the Spanish education system couldn't persuade her to stick to the syllabus.

"We'll study." a voice floated up from the class.

"I should see lots of good grades on this test." she said as she walked back to the podium.

You could tell she was going against her better judgment, she went to school in Spain, and I know from talking to several people from different European countries and the middle east that they are very strict about their education.

After class I told her about conversations I had had with these people, and that I could tell she had not wanted to give in to the whims of the students. For about twenty minutes we talked. She told me there are big differences, and I asked her if it frustrated her at all, because the other teachers give in to the demands of the students more readily, which only enables the practice. She said that’s the way it is, but she tried not to let it affect the way she teaches. Then she told me about the red pen. She told me she wasn’t supposed to use a red pen to mark papers. When she finished school and got her credentials, she went out and bought a bunch of red pens. They are more visual, but she doesn’t use them here. I was amazed that the community college would tell her not to use them, and told her so. She said the college didn’t, but she has been told by a number of fellow teachers that they shouldn’t be used. Their reasoning is that it is too traumatic for the students to see their papers with red all over them. This was even more unbelievable. She doesn’t use red pens though, but I imagine when she goes back to Spain to teach she will use them. I have wondered if teaching here in the US was helping her with some sort of requirements for further certification back in Europe, I might ask her. I would be very interested in it if it were, cause undoubtedly she would have to write a paper, and I would love to read it.