Change is in the air!

The new Catholic Brothers at our school are doing some interesting things. They are very strict and very … corporal with their punishment. And very liberal with their corporal punishment. But they are trying things that haven’t been done before at our school, which is really cool.

One of the brothers is working with the Religious and Moral Education classes. Every learner has this class once a week, and they are supposed to learn about a variety of different religions and moral codes. The brother has decided to skip out on the other religions, since we are a Catholic school. Do I agree? Definitely not. But, he is spending the time instead talking with the kids about moral behaviour. Things like self-discipline, self-control. Which I definitely agree with! This week, the kids had homework asking “Name 5 reasons that violence is so high in Namibia” and “Suggest 5 solutions to decrease violence in Namibia.” This is really cool, and I love that the kids are being encouraged to think about it!

However, my take on these issues is totally different from theirs. If you ask me, it would be things like culture, because kids are raised with hitting and violence from a young age. A lack of understanding of how to discuss and solve problems peacefully. Maybe we could try mediation programs. Or training for parents and teachers on how to raise kids with rewards and nonviolent punishments. My kids give different answers though! They tell me that violence is caused by unfaithful partners, high teen pregnancy rates, and HIV. The solutions? birth control, being faithful to the people you love, stay in school. Which aren’t necessarily wrong, but I honestly think that they have just been told these things so often that they now have go-to solutions for every problem in Namibia.

Having Brothers working at our school is a big change from last year, and really interesting for me personally because I was not raised super religiously! (or religiously at all…) Although I definitely don’t like the fact that religion is brought into EVERY aspect of life now, I find myself aligning with the brothers more often than not. They are doing their best to bring our kids around to be honest and hard working. Even if I don’t necessarily agree with how they go about doing this, we can already see changes in our learners. They have become a little more serious with their work at school; though it’s not everyone, some of them are truly improving since last year, and I am hopeful that this will, however slowly, turn our school around!