On Friday I witnessed an act that is pretty common in America: the copying of math school work. Some students borrowed the notes of the most diligent student in class and made photocopies. Then they thankfully returned the original and kept their own copy. But the difference in Spain and America is that in math you don’t turn your homework. This student wanted a copy to study. It had nothing to do with cheating, only getting materials to prepare himself for the infamous Selectividad.

In the U.S. nearly all student work is completed –in full or partial amounts– because a teacher is going to grade it. If American teachers were to give math homework that didn’t have to be turned in, nearly everybody wouldn’t do it. Here, in the segundo de Bachillerato — the last grade of public high school — it’s different. Students I have talked with say they study around three hours a day. But in my first week and a half in school I haven’t turned in anything. There are of course students who don’t do their homework, but it seems the fear and terror of La Selectividad works to motivate students.