My daughter has started fifth grade, and we have a new homeroom teacher. Today I had the chance to meet her—she's 21. It turns out she is a graduate of the same school; when she was 22, my daughter helped her transition from the school into adulthood at the end of first grade. Today she told the children to follow the rules and show appropriate respect. She also named a completely unfamiliar woman from the parents' committee, who is much older than her; the woman looked surprised and unhappy. Additionally, our homeroom teacher did not think it necessary to hold a parents’ meeting to at least introduce herself to the parents. Today the kids went to the school to pick up their textbooks, and they happened to meet the teachers. Three parents who came with the children today met her. Yet within a week she hadn’t reached out to the subject teachers to find out exactly what the children would need for their subjects. Although the parents’ committee asked her to do this several times, the teachers ended up being contacted by the parents themselves, and everything was purchased. Parents are stunned by how many odd moments there are. At the start of the school year, the children also had a young teacher, 22, who was also teaching a class for the first time. With us she turned out to be quite noticeable, and sometimes not everything went smoothly. Nevertheless, she kept an eye on everything and handled many issues: meals, subject teachers, buses — she knew all the information and passed it on to the parents. Even though this is her first year, our children are her first class: she took the class under her wing, but there’s still a lot she doesn’t understand and she can’t always solve everything. Parents don’t know how to take her seriously. Perhaps she’s young and not very organized, and maybe all this has come with the kids.