Traddel (alien) public school

Did I like my School? I'd probably say so. What's a Traddel public high school like? Well I'll tell you.

The social structure is very different from an Earth public school. Instead of cliques or clubs, they sort of meld together into something which would almost be better described as a guild. Traddin's rotation period is faster than Earth's, so generally students live at the school except on weekends, a four-day period where they can return home. 1/3 of the time is devoted to classes, 1/3 devoted to free time, and 1/3 to sleeping. It is that amount of free time that really speaks to the emphasis on luxury during The 12th Dynasty, last I heard modern school is more like 1/2 school, 1/2 free time and sleep.

Oh, how old am I? Let me see, uh, I'd be about 72 in Earth years.

Anyway, free time was largely taken up by Bluthok Grel: "the Forum of Guilds." It took place in the hallways and foodrooms of the school building. Let me give you an example of a common interaction: When I was in 16th Grade, I belonged to the Calculator Guild. Calculators weren't allowed at school, you see, so in exchange for money, we would function as calculators for other students. Make no mistake, this isn't simply like getting the nerd to do your homework, we wouldn't solve complex calculus problems for the other students. Sometimes we would work as calculators for the Mathematician's Guild, but that's another story.

One time I was in the guild's classroom, some blattgrappel named Covei barged in and he told me that he would cut me if I didn't do his math work for him. He was in remedial math, which is equivalent to a 12 year old human, and also equivalent to what Calculator Guild members are meant to be able to do. The guy had no money, and I knew I could easily take him in a fight if I had to, so I decided to have some fun. "alright," I said, "I'll do it." I messed up the math. Slowly at first, like switching a minus to a plus. Finally I was spewing out totally unreasonable numbers, like twelvety-seven when it should be seven point twelve. He never noticed, got his final Fail grade, and was expelled before he could even try to "cut" me.