Serving lunch in the classroom

Serving lunch in the classroom
Originally uploaded by Bob Clubbs.

In Japanese elementary schools, the cafeteria workers cook the food and then bring each classroom a cart with the food, dishes, and serving utensils... and then they promptly leave! The students then suit up and serve one another lunch. They did this with almost no prompting or supervision from the teacher. The amount of responsibility that the kids have and how well they carry out their tasks was very impressive. Lunch time was an absolute delight! After lunch, the kids all take care of their own dishes and then clean up the classroom, right down to getting on their hands and knees with little brooms to sweep. It was all very impressive.