First week of school has come and gone here in the Philippines. It was my youngest niece's turn to go to kindergarten and she was really excited. And might I say very much ready. She even told her mom, my sister, to not go with her to the classroom and that parents are not allowed inside the rooms. I'm glad she has an independent spirit.
And in every first day of school scenario, introducing one's self is first on the agenda. My sister took a video of the introduction and shared it on her facebook page. The teacher has a nice idea of their introduce yourself routine. She would ask the student to state their full name, would say something nice about the kid's name, then she would then give the kid a nickname. After that, she would go ahead and describe the student. Physically. I think she was just trying to train the kids' attention to detail, but that was just me trying to give her props for her effort in making the first day of school as lively and as interesting as possible. She would give descriptions about how neat the kid's uniform is, or how long or short their hair is, or that the kid's smile is beautiful etc. etc.
When it was my niece's turn to go in front of the class, everything was fine. Teacher was amused with how long my niece's name is. She's one of those lucky kids that was given three names by their parents. So she'll have to have enough space on her pad paper to write three names, her middle initial, and her last name. The teacher then proceeded to giving her a nickname. Nothing out of the ordinary there. I was actually appreciating how animated she speaks in front of the children. It's like watching an interactive kiddie show where the actress tries to speak to the kids through the camera.
I felt a bit off though with the way she described my niece. See, she's one of those kids that are small boned so she's a bit skinny. That actually runs in the family. I was often regarded as malnourished when I was young because of how skinny I was back then. She first described her hair. "Mahaba ang buhok ni Sam. Nakatali ito para maganda siyang tingnan." (Sam's hair is long and is neatly tied so she looks pretty.) I felt there was nothing wrong with that. Then she went on with her description. "Siya ay... hindi siya malusog." (She is... She is not healthy.) Now in context, I know that she meant to say that the kid was not fat. She went ahead and mumbled more descriptive words to describe my niece's smile, how proactive she is and so on and so forth.
I immediately called my sister after seeing the video. She already knows it was because of the teacher's description. She said that the teacher has already explained that she suddenly just got lost for descriptive words to describe Sam's physical appearance. She then apologized to my sister about the confusion.
My nieces are indeed skinny but they aren't sickly. And I usually tell of people that comment about their body. I don't want my nieces to feel insecure about their body type just because of the way people around them describe them. I strongly feel that people should stop looking at the physical aspect of individuals but try to look deeper. We should also try to be careful with the words we use when commenting about other people's appearance. You look fit and strong" for example is much better way to say "Wow! You're so sexy!" You look blooming and happy instead of "You look pretty!" I know they are just words but I think they have an impact. Or better yet, let's try not to talk about appearances.
I know this is challenging as we are in a society where we often judge people by the way they look but we can do it slowly. Maybe Teacher might have already learned how to use correct words next time she tries to describe her students. I was just triggered by the term not healthy that's all. Well, it's just the start of the school year, but that's one big learning already.
