I grew up in a model city. This does not mean I turned out as a model citizen but my city, Columbia, Maryland, did the best it could. [see also Michael Chabon’s essay on Columbia, “Maps and Legends” in his essay collection with the same title]

Columbia came from a conglomeration of pieces of land bought up by under the direction of James Rouse for the Howard Company Research and Development Corporation. The area, between Baltimore and Washington D.C, was at that time mainly farm land; Rouse planned a “new city” which was supposed to create the feel of a small town but with housing available to people with all ranges of income.

Columbia was founded in 1967 and was built to seem small and friendly. It had curving roads, sidewalks, walking paths, artificial lakes, lots of trees and a “village centers” that would be within walking distance of most of the houses. Each village center was a mixed-use area with a community space/ theater, small stores and a large grocery store as well as restaurant and other amenities such as a library. Schools were also located within walking distances of most housing. All this was gilded with a patina of poetic names. I lived on ‘Open Sky,’ next to ‘Thicket Lane,’ ‘May Wind Court,’ ‘Green Mountain Circle’ and ‘Twin Rivers.’ People from nearby towns called Columbia “Disneyland” in the beginning years.

The idea of creating a community was incorporated into even the smallest detail. Mail was not delivered to houses. To get our mail, we walked across the street to a large box which had cubbyholes for 20 houses. The idea was that you would meet and talk to your neighbors as you picked up the mail every day.

The three main differences between Columbia and most other developments were that Columbia was deliberately built to bring people from different incomes together into the same space. Every village had single-family homes, townhouses, apartments, condominiums and subsidized housing. Thus every school had students from a wide-range of financial backgrounds.

A second difference is that religious buildings were forbidden. There were “interfaith centers” in each village center; each religious groups using the space at different times, i.e. Baptists at nine, Methodists at eleven. Lastly, the Columbia Medical Plan (CMP), an early form of HMO, was set up for residents so that most residents went to the same hospital.

The motto of Columbia is “People Power” and the power came from people who wanted to live in a “willed community,” meaning the people who bought homes there wanted to have neighbors from all economic, social, religious and national backgrounds. In middle school my best friend was from Haiti; in high schools my group of friends included people who were Jewish, Catholic, Hindi, Protestant and atheist.

The crowning touch was that I went through a ‘model’ school system. My elementary, middle and high schools were built ‘open plan’ – no classroom walls. Teachers used flimsy dividers to block off their own area. Students sat in semi-circles; the teachers sat on their desk or roamed around the space. There was always noise from other nearby classes; I enjoyed the setup but it must have been hell for those with ADHD.

The teachers were encouraged to be innovative and let students learn using a variety of methods. In elementary we learned math by using counting sticks. In high school we could work our way through math books at our own pace. We didn’t have lectures in English classes. There were about 45 ‘packets’ – each with a reading assignment and questions to answer. Each student had to do 12 packets in one year. If you powered though, you could finish in one semester, or languish on for 1 ½ years.

My last year, I had a very hip teache, who decided to let me and another student watch THX1138, George Lucas’ first film, a dystopia sci-fi short movie. The teacher wrote up a series of questions and we wrote essays to answer them, a far cry from the usual high school curriculum in 1986. Another teacher was doing research on ‘learning styles.’ My two best friends and I announced that we learned better sitting comfortably, so we appropriated the sofa which had been brought into his class space. We ‘needed’ the sofa to optimize our learning capabilities.

Despite the luxuries I was enjoying, my mom suggested that I finish high school in three years. I looked into it and found I would only need to take one summer school class – English. So that summer I took a bus to another school in town, a real high school. It had hallways. It had windows and classrooms with doors. Amazingly, the chairs were in straight columns, and the teacher never moved from behind his desk. It was a classroom just like I had seen in the movies!

I sat in the last chair, the column nearest the windows, propped up my textbook, set the book I was reading inside it, and read all summer. The best of possible worlds! The teacher’s voice was a low, steady drone from the front of the class; no one was paying attention. There were no creative projects, nothing to turn my brain on for – I was envious of the students who got to “learn” like this all the time! This was what high school was supposed to be!

One result of growing up in Columbia is that as a teacher I make my students sit in a circle so we can all interact. I walk around the classroom. I try to think of creative homework assignments. The second result is that I can read anything anywhere; I can make myself concentrate on any mental task no matter what confusion reigns around me.

The last result is that I don’t really ‘get’ hating someone else because they have a different religion. In this, perhaps inadvertently, Columbia was eminently successful. When I got to college and heard a woman from my dorm disparage another woman because “she was Catholic,” I was surprised. You would dislike someone because of their religion? Really? It seemed so oddly old-fashioned, like living in a house without electricity. Not trusting someone because of their religion? Weird.

I think part of the reason I could live overseas in Germany, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates and Oman is that I grew up with such a mix of people. Or to be more precise, people from different backgrounds who were happy to live near people from other different backgrounds. As a child, it never occurred to me that I was supposed to fear or hate someone whose appearance, religion, background, language and/or country of origin was different than mine. Not, I hope, in a holier-than-thou sort of way, but I wasn’t taught to fear or hate, so I didn’t fear or hate. People Power, plain and simple.

Navigating Working in USA without Speaking English, part 1

Returning to USA – Culture Shock essays

Culture Shock – Adjusting to American Hand Shakes

Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions