The System

I know this is true of all things, but education is one of those Systems that seem to create an unbreakable cycle of problems.

It’s not just Namibia. I was watching “Waiting for Superman” the other day, (great film, if you haven’t seen it you definitely should!) and it really highlights serious problems with the American educational System.

Here in Namibia, there is a problem with education that is at least as serious. We work and work to improve education in our own classrooms, in our own schools. But the longer I am here and the more I see, it seems to be more a problem with the System as a whole than with individuals. And I know that’s the case in the States as well – what can we do to address this problem? It’s almost enough to make me want to go into politics.

Over the weekend, a police officer came to my house. He is clearly successful since many people in Tses don’t have jobs, and talking to him, he is also very clever. But the reason this particular police officer came to visit was that he needed help with a mathematics assignment. He is taking a distance course through PolyTech, so this was college-level work. You have to give the guy some serious credit for trying to take a college maths course through a distance program!!

But the thing is, he was struggling. No, you can’t blame him for struggling when he is trying to teach himself math using an arguably not-that-helpful textbook. But one of the problems he asked for help on was a word problem that required you to set up and solve two simultaneous equations. (2 equations, 2 variables) I think I learned that around 7^th grade. Another problem involved Venn diagrams.

My point is this: What has the system done to us? If a smart and motivated individual is struggling in college with concepts that are covered in middle school in other places, where did the problem occur? How is it that the lower primary school learners seem smart, motivated, and successful, but by the time they come to my junior secondary school every single one is woefully behind grade level? And maybe more importantly: If this police officer isn’t seeing success in this System, who will? How much does the System really ALLOW people to learn?

And the real problem is that it’s a problem without a clear solution. Yes, we as volunteers can work with individual learners and with individual teachers to maybe cause a slight change in understanding, or in critical thinking, or in perspective. But what are we really doing when we just throw these kids right back into the System when we leave? Is it just an ongoing cycle where we set an artificial ceiling on the amount of learning that can take place?

And to continue on a vein that's closer to home for most of us, What about these problems in America? Because we have exactly the same ones.

That’s my frustrated rant for the day, thanks for reading...

My best grade 9 learners - we tried positive reinforcement, so the ones who managed to behave in class got a party at the end of the term!