Yell all you want, for it's passing time

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[Note from 12 June] I wrote this micro-post in a fit of bewilderment at just how loud the school hallways can get in the middle and high schools. Kids will be kids, of course, but the laissez-faire nature of passing time contrasts greatly with the "sit down and be quiet" nature of classroom expectations. It's either on or it's off; it's hot or it's cold...

Tangent: In times like this I think back to middle and high school in suburban Wisconsin. We were as loud back then? Maybe so. Over a decade's passed, so maybe the memories have grown muddled. But then, we had five minutes to change classes and the Koreans have ten. We were too pressed for time to get wild. Whether or not that was a good thing, I don't know. I remember middle and high school as a time when we had to hurry to class, lest we suffer the consequences. The teachers began class at the sound of the bell. Yet over in Korea, the kids have ten minutes plus however long it takes for the teacher to walk from the teacher's room to the classroom. Classes begin when the teacher walks into the room in Korea. This means that the students can enjoy as much as 13 minutes between classes. Come to think of it, maybe I'd have jumped for joy if I was in the same situation. It's hard to say. When in Rome...