D is for Art

Adrienne recently started a local schoolgroup. Well, I would call it more of a playgroup than schoolgroup, but it seems that things associated with 'school' are more successful than things associated with 'play' here. What I am interested in is letting Adrienne have a little social interaction, learn to play with others, and have some fun. She is only 20 months old, remember? The school tells me that the kids learn very important things such as 'Writing, Maths, English and Chinese'. And to prove that it is a real school (like all schools in Singapore), Adrienne must wear a uniform everyday. See it in the picture? She is wearing an XS uniform and swims in it. It is pretty adorable to see a bunch of toddlers in their uniforms, backpacks full of diapers, and waterbottles. It seems the school's promises and my wants are aligning well, at least insofar as Adrienne loves going to school and that makes me happy. She comes back from school with new songs, dances, and freshly-completed art projects. She is also making friends, as evidenced by the big hug she gave to another classmate we ran into later on the playground. (By the way, I love the way toddlers communicate. I will have to save that for another post).

 

So I will admit to being a little miffed when she brought home this:

 

Now there is nothing wrong with the painting, don't get me wrong.  The kids were learning about the letter 'S'. S is for Starfruit. Then they got to take starfruit, dip it in paint, and make starfruit stamps.  Great idea, great project. My consternation came at the small red numbers written at the bottom that says 5/8. Wait...seriously, is that a grade?  Did Adrienne get 5 out of 8 on this project?  Let me do my 'Maths': Yep, that is a 62.5%, or a D on this art project.  So I tell you, this enraged me. First, are you kidding me? Are you really grading my 20-month old's art project? and Second, how could she get a D on it?? I think that this painting is pretty good. I mean, she obviously had a lot of help tried very hard with this art project since here is an example of her free-style art:

But, come on! A 62%? I began looking at my schedule, trying to figure out a day I could take off work and make an appointment with Adrienne's teachers. I started planning my strategy: First I was going to demand that they tell me exactly what assessment criteria was used for the 8 points given, and why Adrienne only got 5 of these. What 3 was she missing and why? Next, I was going to point out that a real doctor with a medical degree thought Adrienne was an over-achiever. He was testing Adrienne's motor skills and asked her to stack 2 or 3 blocks. Adrienne stacked SEVEN before the eighth one crashed the stack Jinga-style, so clearly she is a genius. Did those teachers know that, huh? Thirdly, I was going to try to shame them for trying to squash my daughter's creative spirit at such a young age. What kind of people discourage a 20-month old with a dream and a starfruit paint stamp?? Finally, I was going to withdraw my daughter from school before she could flunk out, since that was clearly the direction we were heading for by getting D's in Art. I mean, I haven't even SEEN what they have given her for her grade in Chinese yet!

But then...a little voice of reason pointed out that, maybe, 5/8 is not 5 points out of 8 points but the date. You know, like the 5th of August, the day that Adrienne made the painting. Since that IS how we write the date here in Singapore (day/month/year). Right. Hmmm...could be. 

Thankfully, a disaster averted BEFORE I made a total fool of myself.