by Boudsaba Daosaing and Soysouda Phongchaleun (age 12) – Luang Prabang, Laos

Two students, Ms. La and Ma. Noi, were at their school. They were talking about cleaning the school. It was their group’s job to keep the school clean that week. 8am-11:30am was learning time, then after was cleaning time, then after that was play time.

After the girls finished talking, the teacher said it was time for story telling. Ms. Noi and Ms. La disagreed on what their story’s topic should be. The teacher heard the two girls arguing, and asked, “what are you arguing about?” They were arguing about the topic of Lao culture. Ms. La said that modern-day Lao girls wear their hair too long and their skirts too short, but Ms. Noi said Lao girls wear their skirts too long and always keep their hair up in a bun.

The teacher said that in traditional Lao culture, women should always wear their hair up and keep their skirts long, especially in temples, because it is respectful. They both apologized to each other. Eventually Ms. La agreed with Ms. Noi, but they both agreed that for all cultural events, they should remain respectful, but it is ok to be more modern in their daily lives.