Freedom House ALA

To introduce my post’s theme, I need to briefly explain Freedom House. Freedom House is a website that publishes annual ratings on liberty in every country in the world. It gives each nation a number between 1 and 7 for Civil Liberties (1 is the best), another one for Political Rights, and then averages them out. Depending on its score, each nation is given a tag of “Free”, “Partly Free”, or “Not Free”. For example, Somalia and North Korea are “not free”, but Mali is “free”. Way to be Mali! North Korea, step it up.

www.freedomhouse.org

All of that might not seem very relevant to my life, but I believe that it is possible to apply similar ratings to this school. To do that, I would like to take a look at the library during prep time. For those of you who are American, prep is homework.


Mr. O’s Watch: Free

When Mr. O is on duty, he spends very little time actually inside of the library. He strolls in, looking like an absolute bro in his fantastically dapper cap and some sort of excellent sweater, surveys the room from the door, and then does one circuit of it, briefcase in hand. When that is done, he takes another quick scan, and strides off, probably to go laugh at people with bad fashion sense. Half an hour later, he returns and does another circuit. Under Mr. O’s watch, students in the library enjoy the occasional side conversation, travel freely and breathe lightly.

Below, is a simplified map of the library during prep time under Mr. O. The red crosses are students.


Civil Liberties: 1
Political Rights: 1


Mr. Gyampo’s Watch: Partly Free

Mr. Gyampo exudes respectability and quiet discipline. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I’ve heard him say, “No you cannot, I’m afraid prep time is for private study”. Then he nods sagely and interlocks his fingers, and the student in front of him feels a profound, semi-religious guilt. I once watched Mr. Gyampo kick five consecutive students off of the same computer for going on Facebook. If they were dogs, they would have walked away with their tails between their legs. Under Mr. Gyampo’s watch, students can travel freely, but they need to focus on their work all of the time.


Civil Liberties: 3
Political Rights: 4


Ms. Gater’s Watch: Not Free

Julia Paolillo is a confident young woman, born and raised in Connecticut, and when she’s in the zone, she could probably intimidate a blind man into buying wallpaper. Ms. Gater scares the bejesus out of her.

When Ms. Gater is on duty, the library is more efficient than a Soviet Era steel factory. Absolute quiet reigns, students sweat profusely when they drop their pencils, and the mere sight of blonde hair triggers a mass trembling that vibrates the entire building. Woe betides you if you’re caught interacting with your surroundings, because you’ll be subject to a terrifyingly frosty: “How many times do I have to tell you?? Do you think I want to spend my entire evening telling people to do their prep?! Jesus.”

“No Ms. Gater, we know you don’t, PLEASE DON’T EAT MEEE.”


Civil Liberties: 7
Political Rights: 6


In the interests of balanced reporting, I would like to acknowledge the massive academic benefits to library tyranny. Also, Ms. Gater is English, which makes everything okay. Rule Britannia!