Fire Drill

-Maire Elementary School; Grosse Pointe, MI, USA; circa 1995-

The fire bell rings.  The students all put their pencils/books/etc on their desks and file (quietly) out of the classroom behind their teacher.  The classes all meet on the field, away from the building, where the teachers count the children (still in their lines and relatively quiet) to make sure they are all there.  When the bell rings to indicate the drill is over, the students all walk (not run!) back to their classrooms where class resumes as normal.  This happens at least 8 times a year, the number of drills specified by the state government for all schools in Michigan, the teachers and students all know from the beginning of the year exactly where they are supposed to go in case of a fire drill, it almost always happens with the same amount of order and calm, and the students are all under 11 years old.

-Théophile Gautier High School; Tarbes, France; February 14, 2011, 9:30am-

The fire bell rings.  The students start putting their belongings in their bags despite my instructions to leave everything behind except their jackets and leave the room immediately.  We finally make it out into the hall, where it is total mayhem.  The other teachers have no idea what is going on or where they are supposed to take their students, and the students are all getting lost in the crowd and chatting with students from other classes.  Since there is such a large crowd blocking the stairs, one of the other teachers decides we should go out the other way down the stairs.  We pass by several classrooms in which the teachers are continuing their classes as normal, undisturbed by the fire drill.  The one teacher I ask for directions says he has no idea what is going on or where to go, and decides to take his students back in the classroom.  I eventually do the same after seeing the same mayhem in the big courtyard.  We resume class as normal.  The students are all over the age of 15.