Rokia and school
Jul. 25th, 2017 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kawuliFrom tumblr:
@honouraryweasley asked a bunch of great stuff, but we’ll start with this part:
So Rokia actually doesn’t mind school–she doesn’t much care about it, but as long as she stays out of the way nobody bothers her, which is a nice change from most of the rest of her life. She mostly flies under the radar because she’s quiet and doesn’t cause trouble, while I’m sure teachers in Six are pretty swamped with kids who are actively causing problems. I’m thinking it’s a bit like schools in inner-city Detroit or the South Side of Chicago: a lot of kids with past or ongoing trauma, very little support for kids or teachers, so most teachers are too overwhelmed to notice the kid who’s just sitting in the back not paying attention.
But I think the last year or so she’s in school Rokia has a math teacher who notices that even though she misses a ton of school and doesn’t seem to care at all, she’s still doing fine on math tests. Because Rokia learned stuff like arithmetic and fractions and whatnot working in the shop, plus basic geometry kinds of things, so up until she drops out she can skate through in math no problem. The thing is, if the teacher tries to talk to her Rokia would just shrug and shut them down, because she doesn’t have the energy to deal with it. The teacher’s sad when she stops coming, but it’s also just one more in a string of kids who drop out, not much they can do about it.
And while technically everyone’s supposed to be in school until 16(ish?), the Peacekeepers in Six have better things to worry about than truancy, so as long as you’re not causing trouble they’re not going to go looking for kids who aren’t in school.
The other thing is even if they wanted to track Rokia down it’d be a little tricky, because the places they live, Rokia’s mom usually isn’t on the lease, and they move a lot. So yeah, when they first come to stay with Sal, Rokia and her mom have to go to the local school and register, Rokia’s mom has to show she’s got a valid reason to have moved to the city (which Sal gave her by hiring her because well, she’s his sister and he’d like to give her a chance). After that though, nobody really has an up-to-date address on file.
Rokia sometimes worries what will happen if her mom gets put in jail or something, because then theoretically the girls would all have to go to an orphanage. Beyond that, whatever social workers/child protective services exist are overwhelmed, just like teachers and Peacekeepers are, so they wouldn’t just come by unless they got a specific complaint that was “bad enough” to do something about. And again, the places where they’re living are not places where the nice next-door neighbor lady would call the PKs if she heard fighting. In those neighborhoods, Peacekeepers are problems, not solutions.
(Rokia is incredibly relieved when her sisters are old enough to go to school–it starts around age 4 in D6 to make it easier for parents to work. The first time she drops off Allie AND Kadi and has a whole like 8 hours where she doesn’t have to worry about them for free she almost cries.)
@honouraryweasley asked a bunch of great stuff, but we’ll start with this part:
Maybe some stuff about her at school? I know she didn’t like it much - too many other responsibilities. Did she have any encounters with well-intentioned but ultimately meddlesome teachers? What was moving schools like when they moved to live with Sal? Dealings with bureaucracy?
So Rokia actually doesn’t mind school–she doesn’t much care about it, but as long as she stays out of the way nobody bothers her, which is a nice change from most of the rest of her life. She mostly flies under the radar because she’s quiet and doesn’t cause trouble, while I’m sure teachers in Six are pretty swamped with kids who are actively causing problems. I’m thinking it’s a bit like schools in inner-city Detroit or the South Side of Chicago: a lot of kids with past or ongoing trauma, very little support for kids or teachers, so most teachers are too overwhelmed to notice the kid who’s just sitting in the back not paying attention.
But I think the last year or so she’s in school Rokia has a math teacher who notices that even though she misses a ton of school and doesn’t seem to care at all, she’s still doing fine on math tests. Because Rokia learned stuff like arithmetic and fractions and whatnot working in the shop, plus basic geometry kinds of things, so up until she drops out she can skate through in math no problem. The thing is, if the teacher tries to talk to her Rokia would just shrug and shut them down, because she doesn’t have the energy to deal with it. The teacher’s sad when she stops coming, but it’s also just one more in a string of kids who drop out, not much they can do about it.
And while technically everyone’s supposed to be in school until 16(ish?), the Peacekeepers in Six have better things to worry about than truancy, so as long as you’re not causing trouble they’re not going to go looking for kids who aren’t in school.
The other thing is even if they wanted to track Rokia down it’d be a little tricky, because the places they live, Rokia’s mom usually isn’t on the lease, and they move a lot. So yeah, when they first come to stay with Sal, Rokia and her mom have to go to the local school and register, Rokia’s mom has to show she’s got a valid reason to have moved to the city (which Sal gave her by hiring her because well, she’s his sister and he’d like to give her a chance). After that though, nobody really has an up-to-date address on file.
Rokia sometimes worries what will happen if her mom gets put in jail or something, because then theoretically the girls would all have to go to an orphanage. Beyond that, whatever social workers/child protective services exist are overwhelmed, just like teachers and Peacekeepers are, so they wouldn’t just come by unless they got a specific complaint that was “bad enough” to do something about. And again, the places where they’re living are not places where the nice next-door neighbor lady would call the PKs if she heard fighting. In those neighborhoods, Peacekeepers are problems, not solutions.
(Rokia is incredibly relieved when her sisters are old enough to go to school–it starts around age 4 in D6 to make it easier for parents to work. The first time she drops off Allie AND Kadi and has a whole like 8 hours where she doesn’t have to worry about them for free she almost cries.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2017-07-27 02:32 am (UTC)Also this was a prompt thing at some point but putting it here again because relevant--Allie's first day of school:
“I don’t wanna get up,” Allie whines, curling tighter on the mattress. “Don’t wanna go to school.”
Rokia takes a deep breath, lets it out. Allie turned four this spring, which means school, and Rokia’s grateful as hell even if Allie doesn’t want it. Means 8 hours of only Kadi to keep track of, and Kadi’s still baby enough that she doesn’t talk back to Aunt Magda, so she can play in a corner of the office while Magda does the paperwork until Allie and Jack come home from school. Allie was getting old enough to be too easily bored, and Magda kept calling Rokia out to deal with her.
And Sal doesn’t mind much but Magda shakes her head and complains Sal’s not getting his money’s worth if Rokia’s in and out looking after kids all day.
So school is a fucking relief. If she can just get Allie up and dressed and out the door.
“Allie, come on, it’ll be fun,” she tries, coaxing.
“It won’t,” Allie says. “I’m tired. I wanna sleep.”
Rokia’s jaw tightens. She doesn’t snap that they’re all tired, that she worked a 12-hour shift yesterday before Sal sent her home, because she’s getting them out of this fucking house as soon as she possibly can, and even the shittiest run-down apartments demand deposits and she doesn’t have the money. Isn’t sure how she’ll manage to scrape it up, keep it from disappearing into food and clothes and doctors and Mom’s never-ending list of immediate needs, keeping the water running and the power on, because she’s the only one in this fucking house who notices the bills, much less pays them.
But if nice is just getting her whining, then fuck it. “Allie, come on,” she says, in her best tough voice. “You have to get up, you have to go to school, now quit whining and get dressed.”
Allie rolls over, sulky. Kadi’s curled up next to her and whines a little when her sister leaves her back exposed. “Fine,” Allie says, stands up. Rokia hands her a t-shirt, underwear, pants, socks, shoes, one at a time while Allie does everything at half-speed just to be difficult, and by the time she’s dressed Rokia is counting by sevens in her head to keep from yelling.
“Come on,” she says finally, taking Allie’s hand, picking up her bag and walking out into the hall. She shuts the door firmly behind them. Kadi will go back to sleep, she knows from experience, and nobody else is likely to be up for hours, given how late the noise went on last night.
The kitchen is still some kind of fucking lab, she’s not keeping anything for the girls to eat in there, so they stop at a corner store on the way to the school and Rokia gets yesterday’s bread, half price, and a new tub of margarine, the kind that doesn’t need refrigeration so she can keep it in their room. Allie’s quiet while they eat, chewing carefully and sipping water out of Rokia’s canteen. When they’re done Rokia slips the rest of the bread and margarine into her bag and pulls Allie to her feet. Pulls her in for a quick hug, because Allie looks scared and sad behind the sullenness, and Rokia doesn’t know what else to do.
Allie pulls away pretty soon, starts walking, scuffing her feet on the sidewalk. “Allie, stop that,” Rokia says. “You’ll wear out your shoes.” Allie looks back at her, lower lip stuck out, but she stops scuffing, takes Rokia’s hand again.
When they get to the school, Rokia crouches down, pushes Allie’s hair back. “You be good now,” Rokia says. “And your Aunt Magda and Jack are gonna pick you up after, okay?”
Allie nods. Hesitates, then flings herself at Rokia so hard she almost knocks them both over.
Rokia steadies them, wraps her arms around Allie. “I love you, babygirl,” she whispers, and then stands up and watches her sister walk into the school building.
Then turns around and walks home to get Kadi and head for work.