‘We do have neighbours to consider, you know!’

And then there are our neighbours…I spend a good deal of time working on this issue with students as Dean of Good Neighbourly Relations. Sometimes it’s observational as I stroll at break time around by Waltikon station, past the filling station, across to the Denner loading bay via the Kusnacht bus stop, back to the DSC and then along the rear path to the Annexe checking in ‘Smokers’ Bikeshed’ on the way, greeting our students cheerily and encouraging them to unblock the pavement and retrieve the litter just dropped. How do I usually get involved if there is a formal complaint from a neighbour? Well, last time it was a sunny Thursday morning as a fresh but tepid, early spring wind ruffled the crisp sycamore twigs when a phone call ruffled my desk …

Basically we had the following problem: A very noisy, nervous, small, black dog tethered near to the outside door of Migros was fed popcorn by a student who felt sorry for it. Its enraged owner apparently received less than a handsome apology from the student concerned (though it was admitted by her that neither spoke the other’s language – the humans not the dog.)

But in the previous two weeks a few of our students had also taken a short cut through neighbourhood industrial premises and a very few had trespassed on private land in order, in the unseasonably pleasant sunshine, to eat lunch or even smoke a cigarette. (Clarification: ICS is a No Smoking Zone for adults and students on, and to and fro the main geographic campus (MB, DSC, Stables, Academy, Annexe, pool, sports fields and gyms being borrowed and at lunchtime around Migros Island) during the school day or at school events periods as well as on Field Trips and Field Days.) Students were accumulating in noisy and apparently financially negligible groups at the entrance to and in the foyer of Migros at 1.05 and 3.30 and occasionally leaving a mess. None of these are heinous crimes. Not all of them are committed by ICS students. None of them are committed only by ICS students. But they are all irritating to our neighbours living and/or earning their living nearby.

I am either phoned directly (‘Gruezi, Herr Darlington. Hier ist die Migros Central Administration Stadt Zurich…’) or notified by email (‘Nick, please phone Frau Huerlimann on 012 345 6789…Our students are trespassing at lunchtime.’)

What do I do? Well, I start with a few controversial comments way under my breath, in that secret place we all have at the back of our mind – this is good for a calmer Karma I was told, because this is going to take time and diplomacy as I defend the basically excellent behaviour of our ICS students whilst acknowledging the presence of a rotten apple, or an apple tempted into making a rotten decision. Then I telephone to make an appointment.(‘Ja, gruezi wohl, Frau Huerlimaa! Saged sie, wie labed Sie?Wie gaht es Ihre Maa?) Then I make a visit to assess damage and effect its limitation control. Afterall, some of these circumstances could really be annoying, for example in excess of 300 children traipsing past your door twice a day (and in some cases up to 60 teenagers traipsing up to 10 times a day). On the other hand these are Normal Teenagers which all adults presumably once were. Maybe our neighbours even now own a NT but do not want the added aggravation of dozens of them; yet not every single noisy or careless teenager in the neighbourhood is from the ICS any way. (You spotted I was getting a little defensive there of our students.) Furthermore, an inability to find a common language in a moment of stress can tighten the tension (see reference to small dog above.) Then there is the not eccentric view that four or so assorted large teenagers lounging even sprawling, eating even smoking next to your garden gate whilst speaking loudly in an unfamiliar tongue can be intimidating. And then when they go if they leave their litter there on your ground…well, apoplexy is excusable.

Now I have to find the culprits (I am quite good at this); I speak at an assembly; I ask the tutor to address the students; or I have a Deanish one-on-one depending on the circumstances. Maybe an apology is written or delivered orally, maybe some useful community chores are added to the recipe so that there is an opportunity for reflection and reparation. Several factors dictate which and how much. Whatever, the kids have to see we are in a Swiss community and that big bunches of noisy, extrovert kids might be irritating in certain circumstances so we need to be squeaky clean, therefore, in order to maintain or establish a popular image and reputation. And I am going to push this, they know (or do now.) We are all ambassadors, I say, even when we think we are out of sight or earshot. And stepping aside to let a senior Swiss citizen walk by on the pavement of her own village rather than, say, continuing up Strubenacher in a wide, progress-blocking and frankly intimidating noisy mixed group of 60 ninth graders thus forcing her to step out into the Strubenacher Grand Prix, is a sign of good manners, too.

And this generally does the trick (until the next time), because our ICS students are nothing if not amenable to an appeal to their common sense and good upbringing (but are so involved with the present and the ‘me’).

So now in order to complete the purge I appeal to the few parents and few teachers who short cut across Rinspeed’s courtyard and through the Opel garage behind Waltikon FB station to rethink this decision as it is trespass as well as dangerous. Like the proprietors say to me, big vehicles will be backing out with drivers only cursorily using their rear view mirrors. And I did point out to a close neighbour that we expected their Administration to do something about their customers who park in the DSC parking places whilst going shopping. And they did.