No Smoking Day

The Quest for Perfection
The Samoan Quest for Perfection can be seen all over the school systems. The kids all make sure to have their rulers and three different colored pens. If they are missing any of their supplies they make sure to sit next to someone that has it, or throw it across the room. Neatness counts and if you get the wrong answer but are neat with your writing in your book, it is more acceptable that writing a little messy (or forgetting to use a ruler) and having the correct answer. It may seem completely backwards to us, but this is how everyone was raised.
This quest for perfection can be seen clearly at this year’s “No Smoking Day”. The schools were asked to provide students to perform a skit, give speeches, a song/dance and the best posters from a school-wide poster contest.
All of the schools wanted to be number one as they would receive a cash prize. So for the poster contest in some schools, parents and friends made the posters instead of the kids as the teachers thought they would be a better artist than their students. Some of the posters looked amazing, but you had to really stop and think, who really should have won the contest.
The skits and songs were put together in most schools the day before the contest, with the teachers taking all of the direction on what the students should do.
The speeches were written mainly by the teachers as well.
The day of the event, about 21 schools gathered together. All the female teachers were dressed in their best pulatasis and the men had a nice shirt with an I’e fai’toga on. The students looked like a sea of colors as they were all wearing their uniforms.
It started with a nice motivational speech, that might have lost its message as during the day a few people could be seen next to the gigantic no smoking signs lighting a cigarette.
The students then performed their solos (speeches). Watching these children perform their speeches reinforces how important song and dance are in the culture. The students were moving their hands in rhythm to the sounds of their words.
It then switched to acting and the kids were funny with their performances. I did not understand all of it as it was in Samoan but I did notice a big portion of it had people giving birth to pillows.
Lunch followed and the kids all ran to a vehicle from the school to get their boiled bananas, BBQ chicken, noodles, or whatever else their school brought for the day.
The day finished with song and dance. Although everything might not have been authentically made from the children, I still think they might have learned a lesson or two. And of course everything was well presented and neat.