To the schoolyard

The vmbo education is a school track in the Netherlands. The vmbo is the simplest form of education, but has four different levels. Vmbo schools tend to be very chaotic with a lot of student with different levels. They all get together in the schoolyard, where they smoke cigarettes, try to grab each other attention and don´t talk about their problems: the prejudice where they come across every day.

During a couple of weeks I followed the life of three vmbo students: Aizza, Patrick and Meike. Aizza, born in The Netherlands, lived with her parents, born in Morocco. She was a second-generation girl and felt lost with parents who systematically tried to encapsulate her free spirit. Patrick was the popular guy. He had a history of drug dealing at the age of thirteen, with a mother addicted to drugs; he fought every teacher, and got kicked out of every school. He found quietness in food and ate his troubles away. This resulted in a weight gain of twenty kilo´s in four months. This added up to one problem extra: how could he secure his status as a popular boy being the fat kid at the same time? And at last there was Meike. She had no problems. Her parents had no problems. She always had the same friends and she always did the same thing with these friends. She ignored the schoolyard.