Last week, I started reading Maya in a Mess with my book club for seven and eight-year-olds. As part of the discussion, I asked them, “Have you ever been a monitor in class? How do you feel?”
“I feel like a king!” said one child.
“I love it,” said another. “You don’t have to just stand in line with the others. You can actually do things.”
“It feels good,” said a third. “You feel responsible.”
One avid reader in the batch isn’t seven yet, but she’s at par with the others. When it was her turn, she said, “I haven’t ever been a monitor.”
“Do you want to be a monitor?” I asked.
There was a minuscule pause.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been to proper school. When I was in kindergarten, we didn’t have monitors. Last year, it was all online. So I don’t know what it would be like to be a monitor.”
My heart broke just a tiny bit.
I’ve never been to proper school.
Sigh.
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