Padre Reus, a unique public school

´The book is on the table.´ This is the phrase a funny male student said when we entered an English classroom in Padre Reus, a unique public school. I call it unique because it has a computer lab which they are able to fund with money they get from renting a used car lot in front of the school. Karin, the director of the school, told us that it is very unusual for a public school to have computers which gives a good idea of how different the private and public schooling system is in Brazil. I also call it unique because of the several interdisciplinary projects she explained that students were involved in, one of which involved a history of the 20 year dictatorship in Brazil that ended two years after I was born, in 1984.

The students in this classroom were super fun to talk to and they had many many questions to ask us about the US. For example:

-Do cheerleaders really exist?

-What do teenagers do for fun?

-Is it true that you can start driving at 16? (Here the legal driving and drinking age is 18.)

-Is it hard for teens to find a job in the US? (A female student said it was very hard to find one here)

-What do Americans think of us?

The questions then turned into interest about how to study abroad. Our Rotary companion that day happily answered their questions with info about all of the Rotary youth exchanges available.