by: Vera Guarino
Last week a new school was founded in Lima, Ohio. From the outside it can seem like any other school, it has pupils, it has teachers and it has books. But from the inside it is almost too good to be true, or maybe too pink to be true.
When I arrived at the school to interview the headteacher a dog ran up to me as soon as I stepped out of my car. It was very cute with big brown eyes, but the cutest part was that it had a neon pink striped dress on. A few seconds after a little girl in exactly the same patterned dress the dog wore came up to me and picked up the dog. - I am so sorry, he just loves to meet new people, his name is Tanner, he is super friendly I promise, the little girl said. As soon as I heard the dog's name it sounded so familiar and then I remembered, it was my Barbie's dog's name when I was little. When I told the girl she said that that was accurate, that all the pupil's dog's must have a Barbie-name or else they can not bring them on "Pet's day". It sounded as such an incredible rule but when I asked her about the matching outfits I was even more shocked: - Every Friday we can bring our pets to school but only if they're completely dolled up and if they have exactly the same outfit as their owner, she said. By dolled up she meant that the pets had to go to a salon before they could attend the school, for example get their nails done.
After a while the girl said she could show me around and then take me to the headteacher's office so that's what we did. When we walked into a lesson we quietly sat down in the back of the classroom and I observed the room. Everything was pink and made out of plastic. The tables, the books, the shelves and even what the pupils were wearing. The teacher was a man called Ken of course, as the Barbie doll's husband. Even he wore a pink suit. The little girl told me that if you don't wear pink you can get expelled for an entire week!
When we were finally done with the tour I went to the head teacher's office. She smiled at me when she greeted me with her unbelievable perfect white teeth and her big blue eyes. I asked her why she decided to found a Barbie school out of all schools and if maybe it was her long time dream from when she was little. - Actually, if I can tell you a secret, I have never played with a Barbie doll in my entire life! It was actually because of my daughter I founded this school, she just loves Barbie dolls so I did this for her, and for my husband of course, he also loves the doll, maybe you have already met him, he works here too his name is...
Then it dawned on me, the big hair, the big blue eyes, her clothes, her fit body type, her husband, and the fact that she had never played with a Barbie doll, I mean you can't play with yourself, can you? Now that's just incredible.
