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[mejms]

I see that this forum is inactive and I haven't posted in a long time. I returned to Queretaro in March of this year after living in the US for 7 years. I'm posting the below partly to vent, partly out of bewilderment, and partly seeing if anyone has experience with this.

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Mexican schools (both public and private) are notoriously stringent about what would be mostly be considered more trivial issues in the US.

Most Mexican schools have extremely strict tardy policies. A school start time of 7:30am means that they will close the door to the school right in a student's face as he/she approaches the door if it is 7:30am. The student then has to knock on the door (even though they know that he/she is there), wait, and report to reception to register as tardy.

My son's school permits one tardy (be it 10 seconds of 30 minutes) per month. On the second late arrival, they will not allow the student to attend the school that day. Same for every subsequent tardy that month. So if a student is late by a few seconds on three separate days of a month, that student will miss two days of school.

I find this policy quite sickening. Depriving students of a day of school because their parents arrive late is unreasonable and it demonstrates a real confusion of priorities.

Such policies are common in public and private schools.

Another common policy is that if a student arrives to school wearing the wrong uniform (say, put on the athletic uniform rather than the standard one because he/she mixed up days), that student has to report to the office, miss classes, and wait until a parent can bring the correct uniform. If the parent is at work and can't come immediately, that student will continue to miss classes for the day.

If these above policies weren't mind-numbingly absurd enough, there is yet another consequence for children who miss classes as a result of being tardy or wearing the wrong uniform...

If a student does not complete an assignment because of having missed a class, it's considered an unexcused absence and some teachers will then give a student a "0" for that day's assignment. Therefore, the student is not allowed to attend classes and is then penalized further by the the teacher for not having attended the class.

I'm dealing with all of this now at my son's school. I actually am going to have to request a meeting with teachers and school administration to discuss the absurdity of the "0s" my son has received. Alas, I don't think that I can have any impact on their strict enforcement of late arrival and uniforms because such concerns are so embedded in the culture that most people can' t even see the problem.

I have been trying to find information online about laws against refusing students entry into school, but I haven't come across anything. I've just seen some troubling stories online of little kids kicked out of school after arriving a few minutes late.

I'll add that my son attends a local private school, but it is not an American or international school. I'd expect that treatment at these schools would be a bit different since the costs are significantly higher and there is more an international influence among school administration. I'm also aware that there can often be an elitist attitude in these schools (Mexico is of course extremely classist), which is one reason why I did not opt for it.

I came back to Mexico earlier this year and was happy to do so, but seeing my son have to deal with the consequences of ignorant policies makes me seriously question my decision to return.