Thursday was
the first day of school for the teachers, and one of the things that happened
was a long speech by my principal. She’s really a terrific lady, and I respect
her so much. She’s motivating and motivated and really cares a lot about her
learners and her teachers.
One of the
things that she talked about the first day of school was from a meeting of all
the principals from the region last week. Our region’s results on exams last
year were not, shall we say, all they could have been, so part of the
principals’ meeting was discussing possible causes and various problems
existing at schools around Karas. They discussed the decline of parental
involvement and how learners don't have positive role-models around, and how
the teachers aren't doing their jobs in that area. Well, yeah. But there's so
much more to it than that.
How can you
even start to address the cause of learner misbehavior or lack of motivation in
school? The learners at hostel schools don't simply not have positive role-models
in their parents, they really don't have parents at all most of the time.
Sometimes from the age of 6, depending on when they start school.
And yes,
teachers need to be better role-models than some of them are. But sometimes the
teachers are trying really hard, but the ratio of 9 teachers to 250 learners (at
my school) is just too much.
We talk about
all of the problems with learners and misbehavior and not studying (only 9 of
our 46 grade 10s passed last year…), and it's easy to blame that on the
teachers. But I was talking to another teacher who says we can't take all the
blame, it's the learners' fault. But can you blame a 15 year old for
misbehaving in class? Probably not completely, it's gotta be more than just the
individual (especially if you look at it as a cohesive problem among lots of
kids). But then who do you blame? The parents? Sure, sometimes. The teachers? Probably.
But more than
that, I really think a lot of it is just the community and the culture in which
they're growing up. And how do you fight that? If the entire community believes
school's not as important as other things (farming, working with your hands),
what will you do? And if everyone in the community sees drinking every night as
acceptable behavior, how do you expect the kids to learn different? Should they
even learn different, or are we superimposing values from other parts of the
country or other parts of the world on a culture that doesn't necessarily care
about those values? And even more, who are we to blame the teachers or parents
when it would take the whole community to create any sort of significant
change?
Anyway, that’s
what’s been occupying my mind for the last few days. I’d love to hear your
thoughts!
Jonathan Kozol conducted a predominately ethnographic study into the poor passing rates and education of lower socioeconomic schools and regions throughout the States through the 90s. He published his thoughts in "The Shame of the Nation." I read this while I was working in Cleveland, OH three years ago and was amazed by witnessing in the nearby neighborhoods what I was reading. He addresses the same types of questions you raise and by which are troubled. His solution: ? He never directly lays out a plan, but it is evident he finds fault in the culture--not just the culture of the nation at large, but the expectations of the students within themselves: no expectation. The lack of role models/positive influences on a consistent basis becomes a devastating loss which is intensified from class to class. What to do about this? We cannot just change an age-old mentality by our volition. I have read that it takes an individual at least seven times of repeated instruction to truly grasp something, so Sachi, it appears the best we can do is to just be determined and committed to seeing a positive change come to life. PC has been in action since '61? maybe after 7 decades a serious change will occur (though PC has already made immeasurable strides in providing assistance abroad) .
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