The School Part 1

“We have a very different view on education than a traditional school” The professor said to Haley, the two of them slowly making their way down one of the building’s corredors. They were in one of the most prestigious schools in the nation. “Wind Down University” was printed in gold letters on one of the walls they paced by. Haley had been trying for years to transfer into this place. She could barely contain her excitement in front of the lady, so she did her best to act normal and just nod to her explanations.

“I’d love to hear more about that. Honestly this place is renowned for-” Haley said quietly, but was cut off by the professor.

“Oh you don’t need to tell me, Ms. Clerson. I’m very aware of our ability to churn out the brightest minds in the world.” She said with a serious face. “It boils down to how we teach. We have an incredibly efficient system of trial and error. We give our students simple concepts to build on their own. It’s as if they’re the first ones to figure out quantum mechanics, or even calculus!” She said, leading Haley into a classroom.

The room looked much more… juvenile than she would have expected. The walls were a blur of blue and pink pastels. There weren’t any desks, just short tables with a few chairs around them. A wooden rocking chair sat at the front of the room on top of one of those rugs that depicted city streets. There were only a few other students in there. They were all girls, and each seemed to be coloring freely on pieces of paper. Haley strangely took note of the fact that the coloring just seemed like random scribbles that made no sense.“Huh, maybe some kind of way to explore creativity in the mind? Who knows… and what’s that smell by the way? Smells an awful lot like fresh linen… or is that some kind of powder?” Haley thought to herself. She shrugged it off as the professor lead her to a table. 

“Let me give you an example of our teaching style.” the professor said, motioning for haley to take a seat on one of the small chairs. The second she placed her bum on the chair, the professor immediately presented her with the classic toy with three different shaped objects, and a corresponding hole for each. One square, one circle, and one star shaped. Haley slowly grabbed the toy, but shot the professor a confused look.

“Isn’t this for… you know… little kids?” She said, examining the toy in her hands. The professor just scoffed. She grabbed the circle and square shape out of its hole. Her hands extended the two shapes to Haley, as if to invite her to grab them. She placed the toy down on the the table and did so.

“You must start from the beginning to have any true original ideas.” The professor plainly stated, pointing her hand at the toy to indicated Haley should start playing with it. Haley stared at her for a few more seconds, and slowly turned to the toy in front of her.

“This place might be bonkers…” She thought, as she grabbed the circle shape. “Any reasonable person would put this shape into-” She immediately recoiled from the *Tap* sound the wood gave as the toy and shape collided. For some reason, it didn’t go into the hole she wanted. “What the?” She said out loud. “Isn’t that suppose to… I thought…What…?” Haley said, trying even harder to place the shape into the hole. She graduated toward full on banging the circle shape into the square hole. “This stupid thing is broken!” She yelled, feeling her emotions bubble out of her a little easier than she would have expected. 

“What are you learning, little one?” The professor said. Haley took note of the strange ‘little one’ comment, but she was honestly too angry to care. 

“That this toy is really really hard.” She said in a huff, dropping the toys onto the table. She crossed her arms in frustration. 

“You’re exactly right! What a fantastic concept! You’re so smart for thinking of that, I’m not sure if we’ve had anyone who’s figured out something that hard before!” The professor said, her demeanor changing toward more loving and caring. Haley suddenly felt pride bubbling inside of her.

“This is place is so smart. I’m so smart. This is amazing.” She thought, looking at the complicated puzzle in front of her. “I’m da first to think about this!” She said, clapping her hands as she did so. The professor just rung her hands through Haley’s hair. Her mind seemed to go a little fuzzy as that happened. Things seemed to slow down in her mind, and warm images began popping up instead. Her mouth opened subconsciously, and her eyes began to dull.
An image of herself on a small chair, a pull-up taped strapped around her waist, and a sweet tasting pacifier in her mouth flooded her mind. “Das me…” She thought, thinking nothing strange of the image whatsoever. The professor slowly stopped gliding her hands through the girl’s hair. Haley felt her mind begin to come back to her, but things still seemed… off. She found it was really hard to concentrate on any specific thought for very long. A happy smile grew on her face as her eyes just flew around the room. “More learning! Pwetty pwease!” She said, looking up to her teacher. She just smiled and nodded at the eager Haley.