Sixth grade class of George Sambou I worked with.African Public School Day 2 – No Experience Necessary
We spent another day at the local public school and each of us had very different experiences.
Anisa, age 11:
Anisa started off more timidly when we first arrived at the school, so the teacher she was with had her continue to grade papers and take a more passive role. At the 11:30 break she was practically begging me to leave, but I thought she seemed fine, so I told her to stick it out. Before bedtime tonight I got a better picture of her urgency to leave. Throughout the day, the young teacher she was with continuously used a piece of plastic piping to hit children if they misbehaved, gave an incorrect answer, arrived late, spoke when they should have been quiet, or anything else deemed out of line. This was so difficult for her to sit by and watch, and now she doesn’t want to go back.
Layla, age 13:
Layla must have done a good job teaching yesterday, because again, she was shown the lessons at the start of each class and proceeded to teach them. When I peeked in to see how she was doing in the afternoon, the class was doing art. With no materials to work with, she was teaching them how to make a mural with the pieces of chalk given to her at the start of class and the kids were having great fun expressing themselves on the board. Earlier, she had them playing chalkboard races to reinforce the new lesson and review past math concepts – none of which seemed to have been adequately grasped by the kids.
Me:
I was asked by one of the more outgoing teachers if I would join his 6th grade class, ranging in age from 11-15 (see yesterday’s blog entry for explanation of wide age variation in a class). When I got there, I learned that his subjects were science and “population and family life.” I’m no good at explaining electromagnetism, so I took on family life, and had about 3 minutes to look at the United Nations teachers’ guide on the chapter about adolescence. I had no idea if culturally it was o.k. to talk about subjects like the many physical changes in a mixed group of boys and girls, or sex, or how much they would even understand my English. It turned out that nothing was taboo – perhaps a result of AIDS education campaigns over so many years.
After one of the skits the kids did to demonstrate their grasp of the topic, the issue of domestic violence came up. To my great surprise, 100% of all the sixth graders (about 150 kids) raised their hand when asked if they have ever seen their father beat their mother, or if they’ve ever seen a girl be hit or beaten by another boy or man. (It was later explained to me that in Islam, this practice is not forbidden.) So, I took it on as my duty to try to show how such men are actually weak men, not strong ones, and maybe they can’t change their parents’ generation, but they could start with themselves. A few of the more outspoken boys raised their hands perplexed: “How is it that a man who strikes a woman is weak?” After some discussion and with the help of the capable and enlightened young teacher, we made some good progress on this fundamental issue. Then, I took it to the level of nations: imagine if a large country like America (they never say U.S.) were to throw bombs on the Gambia. The Gambia is a small and peaceful country, growing its groundnuts and fruits, taking care of its family. If America threw bombs on this innocent country, would that show its strength? Would you admire it? Would it show intelligence? Of course not…
It felt good to see something click in so many of the kids today. I feel it’s necessary to challenge them on assumptions that perpetuate hurt in their society – and I don’t believe that practices that harm women can be justified as “cultural,” worth preserving. I wonder how much of the discussion actually will make a lasting impression on these kids, and on how they respect their own bodies, and each other.
We spent another day at the local public school and each of us had very different experiences.
Anisa, age 11:
Anisa started off more timidly when we first arrived at the school, so the teacher she was with had her continue to grade papers and take a more passive role. At the 11:30 break she was practically begging me to leave, but I thought she seemed fine, so I told her to stick it out. Before bedtime tonight I got a better picture of her urgency to leave. Throughout the day, the young teacher she was with continuously used a piece of plastic piping to hit children if they misbehaved, gave an incorrect answer, arrived late, spoke when they should have been quiet, or anything else deemed out of line. This was so difficult for her to sit by and watch, and now she doesn’t want to go back.
Layla, age 13:
Layla must have done a good job teaching yesterday, because again, she was shown the lessons at the start of each class and proceeded to teach them. When I peeked in to see how she was doing in the afternoon, the class was doing art. With no materials to work with, she was teaching them how to make a mural with the pieces of chalk given to her at the start of class and the kids were having great fun expressing themselves on the board. Earlier, she had them playing chalkboard races to reinforce the new lesson and review past math concepts – none of which seemed to have been adequately grasped by the kids.
Me:
I was asked by one of the more outgoing teachers if I would join his 6th grade class, ranging in age from 11-15 (see yesterday’s blog entry for explanation of wide age variation in a class). When I got there, I learned that his subjects were science and “population and family life.” I’m no good at explaining electromagnetism, so I took on family life, and had about 3 minutes to look at the United Nations teachers’ guide on the chapter about adolescence. I had no idea if culturally it was o.k. to talk about subjects like the many physical changes in a mixed group of boys and girls, or sex, or how much they would even understand my English. It turned out that nothing was taboo – perhaps a result of AIDS education campaigns over so many years.
After one of the skits the kids did to demonstrate their grasp of the topic, the issue of domestic violence came up. To my great surprise, 100% of all the sixth graders (about 150 kids) raised their hand when asked if they have ever seen their father beat their mother, or if they’ve ever seen a girl be hit or beaten by another boy or man. (It was later explained to me that in Islam, this practice is not forbidden.) So, I took it on as my duty to try to show how such men are actually weak men, not strong ones, and maybe they can’t change their parents’ generation, but they could start with themselves. A few of the more outspoken boys raised their hands perplexed: “How is it that a man who strikes a woman is weak?” After some discussion and with the help of the capable and enlightened young teacher, we made some good progress on this fundamental issue. Then, I took it to the level of nations: imagine if a large country like America (they never say U.S.) were to throw bombs on the Gambia. The Gambia is a small and peaceful country, growing its groundnuts and fruits, taking care of its family. If America threw bombs on this innocent country, would that show its strength? Would you admire it? Would it show intelligence? Of course not…
It felt good to see something click in so many of the kids today. I feel it’s necessary to challenge them on assumptions that perpetuate hurt in their society – and I don’t believe that practices that harm women can be justified as “cultural,” worth preserving. I wonder how much of the discussion actually will make a lasting impression on these kids, and on how they respect their own bodies, and each other.
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If anyone doubts how desperately the principle of the equality of women and men is needed, then this post should convince them.
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