I had my first meeting with "my" turma today. We chose assigned groups, the chefes (or leaders) of the turma, and I let them give the groups names like "Jennifer Lopez" and "DMX". Luckily, they chose some Mozambican names as well. I think, slowly but surely, I'm coming around for these kids who've only seen me be mean - taking away tests and such. It isn't the group I wanted, but there are a lot of good kids in there I think I can give a hand to. We'll see as the year goes on.
I gave an English class today, as well. I taught the alphabet and the first few numbers. I pretended that we were at a dance party and everyone coming in had to count themselves as the 10th, 11th, 12th, etc. person. It was fun and reminded me of a real party called "37".
I'm realizing I'm not giving a lot of motivation to my students, but they seem to be motivated. Though it's a "required" part of our lesson plans, I think you can give intangible motivation just by being excited and keeping students interested.
Peace
John
Saturday, March 06, 2004
02/03/2004
I had some boxer shorts made today at the tailor's. (In case I forget to tell him: Orlando, Emilio says hi. He's working on the canal project sponsored by the Japanese and seems to be doing fine.) These shorts are red, yellow and orange in a jalapeno-pepper style of patterning. Calling them loud would be like saying Dick Vitale has pep.
I heard the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Yeah, Pats. Well, that was nice. I feel so far removed from football and all sports that maybe I'll catch up...or not. It's tempting to never get sucked in again.
But hockey. I don't think I could ever give up on hockey. Ever since I fell in love with the Hartford Whalers (I've even found an old-style jersey here) and they broke my heart (along with thousands of others), I've loved the game. Can't get enough. So as long as I can enjoy hockey and play some volleyball, I'll be fine.
Peace
John
I heard the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Yeah, Pats. Well, that was nice. I feel so far removed from football and all sports that maybe I'll catch up...or not. It's tempting to never get sucked in again.
But hockey. I don't think I could ever give up on hockey. Ever since I fell in love with the Hartford Whalers (I've even found an old-style jersey here) and they broke my heart (along with thousands of others), I've loved the game. Can't get enough. So as long as I can enjoy hockey and play some volleyball, I'll be fine.
Peace
John
02/02/2004
I realized in this moment of being frustrated with this girl, that last year I would have gotten very angry and made myself miserable about it. Instead, I've very much learned how to have fun.
In my first lesson of the day, I had to throw about five students out of the room for making my life difficult and for demonstrating a complete and total lack of respect. One kid stood up and did his best impression of the way I speak, which annoyed me, but I let it go. When I asked him a question related to what he was talking about, it was clear that making fun of me was his only objective. I let it go, but as class continued and he failed to stop talking with his neighbors, I threw him out. I didn't get mad.
A couple of classes later, I found myself in this moment. Five minutes in, face-to-face with a group of 4 students who weren't my students last year. And all of them up to no good. I just warned them, and it seemed that the ringleader of the problem was a girl in the back.
For whatever reason, there's no table or desk for me to put my books down in this room, which is quite inconvenient. So I decide to make this one girl hold my book for the entire time, while I alter the seating of the others. Once the class got over the novelty of a student holding my book, the punishment wore in and my point was clearly made. It's funny - I haven't yet had to punish any of my students from last year, aside from reassigning their seats.
Which makes me truly appreciate how respect must be earned and is not simply given. True respect, that is. There are formalities, which we have all but lost in American culture, such as standing up when someone to be respected enters the room, greeting someone and asking automatically how they and their family are doing, thanking people for small things, etc. These constitute automatic respect, the stuff you don't have to earn.
But just like in the States, people won't simply respect you because you have a certain status. They'll up the automatic respect, but you won't get treated with loving respect.
And by this I mean that people truly care about you, they care about your opinion, they like to see you happy, and they look at you as human with the same basic needs and desires. This is what took the better part of a year to get with my 9th graders last year, and will most likely take the better part of this year to get with these 10th graders.
I'm frustrated by this only because I was led to believe that it was in fact different here. I am somewhat relieved to find that it isn't, because it restores my hope in Americans. Maybe we Americans haven't completely alienated ourselves from our humble European/Asian/South American roots and maybe there's some hope of not completely obliterating the Native American population and maybe we can realize what other cultures mean when they bow to us and say "We hate you." There's respect in that that we've earned and cruel honesty we've earned the right to hear and react to. Maybe if we can realize that the rest of the world looks to us not to be annihilate because we're so arrogant, but to change our arrogant ways because we've generally got a good thing going, in terms of possible change and power to influence the world positively. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I just feel like America is a train starting to derail and the rest of the world wants us to get back on track. Maybe there are a few people pushing us off even further, but you can't simply get rid of them.
So I teach my classes in the same manner - most of my students help me out because they want to see me succeed. They want to receive a good lesson and understand things. But there are those who try to derail everything because they don't understand why I'm teaching the way I am. Why don't I just give out dictation and be satisfied when the student has memorized the information? Since they don't understand, they don't pay attention and they end up making things quite difficult. They end up trying to derail the lesson and it seems like I'm not making the right call by throwing them out.
When I throw a student out, they then miss out on even more opportunities to learn my way of teaching. So I made quite a few students stay on their feet today so as to ensure that they paid attention, like that girl who held my book. I'm still undecided as to which decision is better.
Peace
John
In my first lesson of the day, I had to throw about five students out of the room for making my life difficult and for demonstrating a complete and total lack of respect. One kid stood up and did his best impression of the way I speak, which annoyed me, but I let it go. When I asked him a question related to what he was talking about, it was clear that making fun of me was his only objective. I let it go, but as class continued and he failed to stop talking with his neighbors, I threw him out. I didn't get mad.
A couple of classes later, I found myself in this moment. Five minutes in, face-to-face with a group of 4 students who weren't my students last year. And all of them up to no good. I just warned them, and it seemed that the ringleader of the problem was a girl in the back.
For whatever reason, there's no table or desk for me to put my books down in this room, which is quite inconvenient. So I decide to make this one girl hold my book for the entire time, while I alter the seating of the others. Once the class got over the novelty of a student holding my book, the punishment wore in and my point was clearly made. It's funny - I haven't yet had to punish any of my students from last year, aside from reassigning their seats.
Which makes me truly appreciate how respect must be earned and is not simply given. True respect, that is. There are formalities, which we have all but lost in American culture, such as standing up when someone to be respected enters the room, greeting someone and asking automatically how they and their family are doing, thanking people for small things, etc. These constitute automatic respect, the stuff you don't have to earn.
But just like in the States, people won't simply respect you because you have a certain status. They'll up the automatic respect, but you won't get treated with loving respect.
And by this I mean that people truly care about you, they care about your opinion, they like to see you happy, and they look at you as human with the same basic needs and desires. This is what took the better part of a year to get with my 9th graders last year, and will most likely take the better part of this year to get with these 10th graders.
I'm frustrated by this only because I was led to believe that it was in fact different here. I am somewhat relieved to find that it isn't, because it restores my hope in Americans. Maybe we Americans haven't completely alienated ourselves from our humble European/Asian/South American roots and maybe there's some hope of not completely obliterating the Native American population and maybe we can realize what other cultures mean when they bow to us and say "We hate you." There's respect in that that we've earned and cruel honesty we've earned the right to hear and react to. Maybe if we can realize that the rest of the world looks to us not to be annihilate because we're so arrogant, but to change our arrogant ways because we've generally got a good thing going, in terms of possible change and power to influence the world positively. I'm not sure that makes sense, but I just feel like America is a train starting to derail and the rest of the world wants us to get back on track. Maybe there are a few people pushing us off even further, but you can't simply get rid of them.
So I teach my classes in the same manner - most of my students help me out because they want to see me succeed. They want to receive a good lesson and understand things. But there are those who try to derail everything because they don't understand why I'm teaching the way I am. Why don't I just give out dictation and be satisfied when the student has memorized the information? Since they don't understand, they don't pay attention and they end up making things quite difficult. They end up trying to derail the lesson and it seems like I'm not making the right call by throwing them out.
When I throw a student out, they then miss out on even more opportunities to learn my way of teaching. So I made quite a few students stay on their feet today so as to ensure that they paid attention, like that girl who held my book. I'm still undecided as to which decision is better.
Peace
John
Thursday, March 04, 2004
02/01/2004
I would write about what I've done over the past few days, but it seems that I've just been doing what I always do - teaching, studying, eating, sleeping, talking about this project or the other, etc. In fact, my life seems to be a series of projects and obligations to do more and different projects, slowly but surely losing sight of why.
I'm offering English classes for 50 Meticais per 10 weeks, essentially less than 1 dollar per month. It's significantly more than they pay for school, but less than they pay for outside tutoring - much less. Which brings up an interesting point.
Teachers, as far as I hear, take a lot of money from their students in exchange for grades because they don't budget well and end up having to take from others. Older students hold tutoring sessions for 100 Meticais per month. Teachers require their students to buy 120 MT books for one subject, one book per student. Yes, you CAN go to school with very little money, but if you want to pass you need a lot more.
So why doesn't the school charge more, spread the money around among the teachers, buy books in bulk so they're cheaper and available to all, and thus save everyone some headaches? It's probably because then only half the students who go to school would be able to, thus exposing even fewer children to basic subjects. It's a very difficult decision, but I think at some point a decision needs to be made along these lines.
And why do people not work hard or attend many of the volunteers' English classes out of school? It's probably that we offer them for free or so cheaply that people think that they're worthless (or close to it)...in fact, I've been told that's the reason. So is the only solution to charge a lot and cater only to those with means? And then those without, stay without, until it "trickles down" to them?
It's all like soap. They sell natural bars of soap here for 2 or 3 MT. For triple the price, you can buy a packet of powdered laundry soap like Surf that doesn't last as long and doesn't get things quite as clean. But because the price is higher, and the packaging nicer, people assume the quality is higher, against any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise. And why not? A capitalist world has been thrust upon a communal society, so why should they react as a capitalist society which had evolved around their economic system would? Consumer rights? Non-existent. Truth in advertising? As far as the rest of the world's concerned, the problems in Mozambique have nothing to do with such typically advanced problems. But when stock vegetables and broth are imported from other African countries, that are produced readily and easily a few minutes from my house, it's easy to see that a country is in a deep hole.
Peace
John
I'm offering English classes for 50 Meticais per 10 weeks, essentially less than 1 dollar per month. It's significantly more than they pay for school, but less than they pay for outside tutoring - much less. Which brings up an interesting point.
Teachers, as far as I hear, take a lot of money from their students in exchange for grades because they don't budget well and end up having to take from others. Older students hold tutoring sessions for 100 Meticais per month. Teachers require their students to buy 120 MT books for one subject, one book per student. Yes, you CAN go to school with very little money, but if you want to pass you need a lot more.
So why doesn't the school charge more, spread the money around among the teachers, buy books in bulk so they're cheaper and available to all, and thus save everyone some headaches? It's probably because then only half the students who go to school would be able to, thus exposing even fewer children to basic subjects. It's a very difficult decision, but I think at some point a decision needs to be made along these lines.
And why do people not work hard or attend many of the volunteers' English classes out of school? It's probably that we offer them for free or so cheaply that people think that they're worthless (or close to it)...in fact, I've been told that's the reason. So is the only solution to charge a lot and cater only to those with means? And then those without, stay without, until it "trickles down" to them?
It's all like soap. They sell natural bars of soap here for 2 or 3 MT. For triple the price, you can buy a packet of powdered laundry soap like Surf that doesn't last as long and doesn't get things quite as clean. But because the price is higher, and the packaging nicer, people assume the quality is higher, against any evidence, anecdotal or otherwise. And why not? A capitalist world has been thrust upon a communal society, so why should they react as a capitalist society which had evolved around their economic system would? Consumer rights? Non-existent. Truth in advertising? As far as the rest of the world's concerned, the problems in Mozambique have nothing to do with such typically advanced problems. But when stock vegetables and broth are imported from other African countries, that are produced readily and easily a few minutes from my house, it's easy to see that a country is in a deep hole.
Peace
John
01/29/2004
It is really amazing, the differences between the students who were my students last year, and those who weren't. For those whom I've had before, teaching is easy, enjoyable and appreciated. They participate more or less freely and give me a ton of respect - not the artificial kind, but the kind where they'll be making a lot of noise and shut themselves up when it's clear I'd like to continue. They truly respect my opinion, not just because I'm the teacher, but because they trust me on a personal level.
A paragraph like that denotes that I must mean to make a contrast, but it's not as well-defined as that. Among the students I haven't had before, are many who are exactly as I described the others, but many more who sit like zombies through most of my lessons as if a one-way mirror separates us. When they chit-chat, they think I don't see or hear. They don't listen unless they're directly spoken to, and claim to not understand because of it. They show only artificial respect, participate only when necessary, and are coming around to respect my opinion.
I think there are two major factors at work: typical dictation-style teaching and my out-there, high energy, fast-paced dialogue style of teaching. My goal is to keep the students interested and on the edges of their seats (keeping in mind that it's biology, after all), always anticipating being asked a question. A student is conditioned to come to my lessons ready to learn. I know of some who avoid my lessons or hide in the classroom (though I usually find them) to avoid, well, thinking. It's downright flattering. On the other hand, the students who haven't had me are used to being vegetables in the classroom and completely uncritical - as they have been trained to do.
What amazed me in all of this is that my second-year students managed to change the way they approach my lessons so noticeably. Maybe they won't know Biology that much better than others, but they will have a better understanding of HOW to learn.
In my last class today, I gave a new lesson...badly. The kids helped me out (imagine saying that last year!), but with so many new words to spit out, I got tongue-tied and didn't really relay all that much information. The one part of the lesson that DID go well, however, was considering a genealogical tree. I created a "family" from the students in the class, and as one of the girls was coming to the front of the room, a boy smacked her on the ass to his delight and her dismay. He saw me look at him, and started up to get out of the room. I told him to stop and turn around. I said it several times until he finally turned and faced the wall, away from the front of the class.
Since he wasn't looking at me, I silently called the victim to the front of the class. She came up to me and I told her to smack HIM on the ass, harder. To the screaming delight of the class, he received a full windup spank.
After the din had died down, I asked him if he liked that - luckily he said no. I responded that she didn't like it very much either and that you don't do that in my classroom. Point across. I continued the lesson and finished up with a fun homework assignment to do genealogical trees of their own families - they actually seemed excited to get started.
Peace
John
A paragraph like that denotes that I must mean to make a contrast, but it's not as well-defined as that. Among the students I haven't had before, are many who are exactly as I described the others, but many more who sit like zombies through most of my lessons as if a one-way mirror separates us. When they chit-chat, they think I don't see or hear. They don't listen unless they're directly spoken to, and claim to not understand because of it. They show only artificial respect, participate only when necessary, and are coming around to respect my opinion.
I think there are two major factors at work: typical dictation-style teaching and my out-there, high energy, fast-paced dialogue style of teaching. My goal is to keep the students interested and on the edges of their seats (keeping in mind that it's biology, after all), always anticipating being asked a question. A student is conditioned to come to my lessons ready to learn. I know of some who avoid my lessons or hide in the classroom (though I usually find them) to avoid, well, thinking. It's downright flattering. On the other hand, the students who haven't had me are used to being vegetables in the classroom and completely uncritical - as they have been trained to do.
What amazed me in all of this is that my second-year students managed to change the way they approach my lessons so noticeably. Maybe they won't know Biology that much better than others, but they will have a better understanding of HOW to learn.
In my last class today, I gave a new lesson...badly. The kids helped me out (imagine saying that last year!), but with so many new words to spit out, I got tongue-tied and didn't really relay all that much information. The one part of the lesson that DID go well, however, was considering a genealogical tree. I created a "family" from the students in the class, and as one of the girls was coming to the front of the room, a boy smacked her on the ass to his delight and her dismay. He saw me look at him, and started up to get out of the room. I told him to stop and turn around. I said it several times until he finally turned and faced the wall, away from the front of the class.
Since he wasn't looking at me, I silently called the victim to the front of the class. She came up to me and I told her to smack HIM on the ass, harder. To the screaming delight of the class, he received a full windup spank.
After the din had died down, I asked him if he liked that - luckily he said no. I responded that she didn't like it very much either and that you don't do that in my classroom. Point across. I continued the lesson and finished up with a fun homework assignment to do genealogical trees of their own families - they actually seemed excited to get started.
Peace
John
01/28/2004
Alfredo told me a Mozambican joke today.
A man loses his wallet with 5,000 escudos (old Portuguese currency). He looks everywhere for it, to no avail. In the paper, he puts in an ad to offer a reward of 2,000 escudos for whomever returns the wallet.
A couple days later, another man shows up at his house with a wallet. The first man looks inside and sees that there's only 3,000 escudos inside. Clearly, he thinks, this other man must have taken his reward first.
So the first man says that the visitor must have already taken his reward and thanks him for returning the wallet. The visitor asks him how much money should have been in the wallet. When the owner of the wallet says "5,000 escudos", the visitor takes the wallet and says, "Well, there's only 3,000 in here so it must not be your wallet", and he leaves.
In my last half of 5 very tiring classes today, 10 minutes from the end of class, I was discussing why women's periods sometimes synchronize after living with each other for a while, and it seemed that everyone was understanding, if not very interested. Then, one student stood up and asked, "What is a hormone?" I looked at him with a blank stare for a few seconds, trying to ponder how frighteningly simple and yet complicated this question is and how much it spoke about the understanding of our current discussion. I breathed a deep sigh, looking up at the ceiling and pondering how I could explain it.
The students started to be noisy, wondering if I could answer the question. I told them the truth - I can answer it in English, but I didn't know how to explain it in Portuguese. To my utter and complete surprise (and delight) they begged me to explain in English - and after noting that they would not understand - begged me to explain or at least to try.
In that moment, I could see 40-some eager faces putting behind years of disappointment from other teachers who couldn't or wouldn't answer their simplest of questions. All of a sudden, I was not frustrated with the system, and was appreciative of the opportunity. I took a half-minute and hemmed and hawed while I worked out a good explanation. I essentially said that a hormone is a molecule (or chemical) produced by an organ that enters the blood and acts on another part of the body. I illustrated it with an example of an adolescent boy whose testicles start to produce testosterone (though I don't think they are produced there, rather in the brain - anyway, it's the concept that matters), causing the boy to start to notice girls. I played the adolescent boy. When I brought it back to the definition of a hormone (or as best I remember it), they had a pleasant look on their faces that confirmed that they understood. That was a neat moment.
Peace
John
A man loses his wallet with 5,000 escudos (old Portuguese currency). He looks everywhere for it, to no avail. In the paper, he puts in an ad to offer a reward of 2,000 escudos for whomever returns the wallet.
A couple days later, another man shows up at his house with a wallet. The first man looks inside and sees that there's only 3,000 escudos inside. Clearly, he thinks, this other man must have taken his reward first.
So the first man says that the visitor must have already taken his reward and thanks him for returning the wallet. The visitor asks him how much money should have been in the wallet. When the owner of the wallet says "5,000 escudos", the visitor takes the wallet and says, "Well, there's only 3,000 in here so it must not be your wallet", and he leaves.
In my last half of 5 very tiring classes today, 10 minutes from the end of class, I was discussing why women's periods sometimes synchronize after living with each other for a while, and it seemed that everyone was understanding, if not very interested. Then, one student stood up and asked, "What is a hormone?" I looked at him with a blank stare for a few seconds, trying to ponder how frighteningly simple and yet complicated this question is and how much it spoke about the understanding of our current discussion. I breathed a deep sigh, looking up at the ceiling and pondering how I could explain it.
The students started to be noisy, wondering if I could answer the question. I told them the truth - I can answer it in English, but I didn't know how to explain it in Portuguese. To my utter and complete surprise (and delight) they begged me to explain in English - and after noting that they would not understand - begged me to explain or at least to try.
In that moment, I could see 40-some eager faces putting behind years of disappointment from other teachers who couldn't or wouldn't answer their simplest of questions. All of a sudden, I was not frustrated with the system, and was appreciative of the opportunity. I took a half-minute and hemmed and hawed while I worked out a good explanation. I essentially said that a hormone is a molecule (or chemical) produced by an organ that enters the blood and acts on another part of the body. I illustrated it with an example of an adolescent boy whose testicles start to produce testosterone (though I don't think they are produced there, rather in the brain - anyway, it's the concept that matters), causing the boy to start to notice girls. I played the adolescent boy. When I brought it back to the definition of a hormone (or as best I remember it), they had a pleasant look on their faces that confirmed that they understood. That was a neat moment.
Peace
John
01/27/2004
I dreamed the other night about having a pet here and how much it would add to my experience. I think I'm shying away from it because of the added responsibility and worry, especially when there's no real infrastructure or security when it comes to pets.
But when I saw a kitten at my tailor's house, I had to stop myself from bringing it home right then and there - maybe the next time, I won't!
I should really stop overanalyzing everything - I think I'm slowly coming to the realization that everything in the Western world is foreign and becoming meaningless to me, however tempted I am to jump back into it and be a functional member of society. Part of me wants to forget it all and go somewhere I can be anonymous but helpful, but most of me still wants to go back and carve out the life I need to have.
Yet, there's still another part of me that sees that selfishness in all of this and realizes that I should feel lucky just to have the choice in the first place. And so I feel like an ass thinking about my next step when I'm in a place where I can bring about some real change.
Not that I'm not working hard on that part, but still...
Lessons are fun and normal, so far. The challenges are fewer and expected and the respect is high. After all, it is only the beginning of the year...
Peace
John
But when I saw a kitten at my tailor's house, I had to stop myself from bringing it home right then and there - maybe the next time, I won't!
I should really stop overanalyzing everything - I think I'm slowly coming to the realization that everything in the Western world is foreign and becoming meaningless to me, however tempted I am to jump back into it and be a functional member of society. Part of me wants to forget it all and go somewhere I can be anonymous but helpful, but most of me still wants to go back and carve out the life I need to have.
Yet, there's still another part of me that sees that selfishness in all of this and realizes that I should feel lucky just to have the choice in the first place. And so I feel like an ass thinking about my next step when I'm in a place where I can bring about some real change.
Not that I'm not working hard on that part, but still...
Lessons are fun and normal, so far. The challenges are fewer and expected and the respect is high. After all, it is only the beginning of the year...
Peace
John
01/26/2004
Well, I managed to waste some time at the training center and Maputo, catching up with volunteers and philosophizing about the current state of affairs in Mozambique and the world. It was a necessary break, albeit during the first week of classes.
And when I returned yesterday, to swaths of mud, piles of dirt and beetles and mosquitoes swarming in every direction, I realized I was home. Not pretty, but home.
And when I decided to check in at school on my day off, I came to realize that I didn't have a day off on the new schedule, but I was fairly unaffected by this development. I gave 3 of the 4 lessons today and it felt like I hadn't had 3 months off from giving lessons.
I spoke some French with a woman from the DRC while Nanosh and I were on the way to his school so that I could watch his lessons, then some Changana with a herdsman who said he didn't need to study, then answered a couple of English grammar questions.
Back at home, we cooked dinner, entertained Kingston, Jorgito and the Canadians while others constantly showed up at the door. I showed Jorgito how to use a microscope that I'll deliver to the Agricultural School later this week, and discussed a little hockey with Charles. Kingston and I set a meeting to talk about the English school, possibly going to Maputo this weekend.
One day back and I feel back in the swing of things, as if I hadn't left...kind of.
There are so many things I want to accomplish this year that I know it will fly by - the challenge was making it through the holidays.
Peace
John
And when I returned yesterday, to swaths of mud, piles of dirt and beetles and mosquitoes swarming in every direction, I realized I was home. Not pretty, but home.
And when I decided to check in at school on my day off, I came to realize that I didn't have a day off on the new schedule, but I was fairly unaffected by this development. I gave 3 of the 4 lessons today and it felt like I hadn't had 3 months off from giving lessons.
I spoke some French with a woman from the DRC while Nanosh and I were on the way to his school so that I could watch his lessons, then some Changana with a herdsman who said he didn't need to study, then answered a couple of English grammar questions.
Back at home, we cooked dinner, entertained Kingston, Jorgito and the Canadians while others constantly showed up at the door. I showed Jorgito how to use a microscope that I'll deliver to the Agricultural School later this week, and discussed a little hockey with Charles. Kingston and I set a meeting to talk about the English school, possibly going to Maputo this weekend.
One day back and I feel back in the swing of things, as if I hadn't left...kind of.
There are so many things I want to accomplish this year that I know it will fly by - the challenge was making it through the holidays.
Peace
John
01/20/2004
Culture. A teacher at school today lectured several hundred students, after they had been rude and disrespectful to another teacher, that they had no culture. I don't really know what that means, but it stuck with me.
Maybe it's that they aren't perfect, upstanding citizens. But show me a school in the world where kids don't act like kids and I think the teachers won't act like teachers. The very presence of someone who considers themselves a disciplinarian, lording it over unwilling subjects, seems to promote rebellion. So what did this teacher really expect from her kids?
We've been having discipline problems with the local kids, throwing rocks at our house, stealing small items, leaving trash on our front "lawn", etc. I told Kingston about it and he went outside and beat one of the kids - not enough to make him cry, but enough to stem the tide for a little while. He said that the physical punishment approach was the only one that worked, and I couldn't help but agree. It seems that we've been through every other method. I even spoke with some families today, and got brush-offs. Part of me wants to think that our neighbors dislike us. But most of me knows that they don't understand us as we don't understand them. I feel handcuffed, though, as I do honestly try, to no avail.
Culture. The culture here is very strong. It is a culture that has a very unaware root connection to traditional values without much of the clothing, songs, dances, words or role models that can be found in countries or even provinces close to ours. It is a culture that has been so stonewashed that it's grasping at straws - Western culture, primarily - for some way to get back into the global dynamic.
And so I looked at this teacher, dressed in Western clothes, speaking a Western language, complaining about a lack of culture.
Now I see an unnatural tie between people of my town here and America. I think we're in a similar crisis - we imitate what we see as "good" but hang on to those intangibles that undermine the "good". If we only realized that those things we fail to see are the very things we should cultivate without wishing for more, maybe we might find this elusive "culture".
Peace
John
Maybe it's that they aren't perfect, upstanding citizens. But show me a school in the world where kids don't act like kids and I think the teachers won't act like teachers. The very presence of someone who considers themselves a disciplinarian, lording it over unwilling subjects, seems to promote rebellion. So what did this teacher really expect from her kids?
We've been having discipline problems with the local kids, throwing rocks at our house, stealing small items, leaving trash on our front "lawn", etc. I told Kingston about it and he went outside and beat one of the kids - not enough to make him cry, but enough to stem the tide for a little while. He said that the physical punishment approach was the only one that worked, and I couldn't help but agree. It seems that we've been through every other method. I even spoke with some families today, and got brush-offs. Part of me wants to think that our neighbors dislike us. But most of me knows that they don't understand us as we don't understand them. I feel handcuffed, though, as I do honestly try, to no avail.
Culture. The culture here is very strong. It is a culture that has a very unaware root connection to traditional values without much of the clothing, songs, dances, words or role models that can be found in countries or even provinces close to ours. It is a culture that has been so stonewashed that it's grasping at straws - Western culture, primarily - for some way to get back into the global dynamic.
And so I looked at this teacher, dressed in Western clothes, speaking a Western language, complaining about a lack of culture.
Now I see an unnatural tie between people of my town here and America. I think we're in a similar crisis - we imitate what we see as "good" but hang on to those intangibles that undermine the "good". If we only realized that those things we fail to see are the very things we should cultivate without wishing for more, maybe we might find this elusive "culture".
Peace
John
01/18/2004
There's nothing like looking out at the stars, the thousands of them, and thinking.
Why am I here? Am I actually doing any good? Am I just keeping the endless cycle of begging going forever? Or am I making a big difference after all, by example, and not so much directly? I'd like to believe the latter, but I'm not at all sure.
I thought today of how I'm going to miss Africa when I go back to the States. Because I sit down every day here and end up thinking of someone and something I miss, almost to the point of obsession, that I wonder how much of this experience I'm missing and how unprepared I'll be to miss it. I've always hated regret, but I think part of me wants to put some closure on these two years and be happy with them. I guess I'm starting to realize how big the world is and how I can't help everyone...or at least it seems that way. I'm not yet ready to fully concede, however, that I can't do something huge.
Peace
John
Why am I here? Am I actually doing any good? Am I just keeping the endless cycle of begging going forever? Or am I making a big difference after all, by example, and not so much directly? I'd like to believe the latter, but I'm not at all sure.
I thought today of how I'm going to miss Africa when I go back to the States. Because I sit down every day here and end up thinking of someone and something I miss, almost to the point of obsession, that I wonder how much of this experience I'm missing and how unprepared I'll be to miss it. I've always hated regret, but I think part of me wants to put some closure on these two years and be happy with them. I guess I'm starting to realize how big the world is and how I can't help everyone...or at least it seems that way. I'm not yet ready to fully concede, however, that I can't do something huge.
Peace
John
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