Uniform
The essence of our effort to see that every child has a chance must be to assure each an equal opportunity, not to become equal, but to become different-to realize whatever unique potential of body, mind and spirit he or she possesses.
John Martin Fischer
For Lecia…
One of my earlier lessons with my secondary school girls was about good communication skills. I asked what I thought was an open-ended question: “What do you think “communication” means?” Several students replied, in unison, THE SENDING AND RECEIVING OF MESSAGES. After this happened again in my second class, I asked why everyone was saying the exact same thing. Turns out, they had recently learned about “communication” in their commerce class.
The teaching style here is: Ask “…what?” to see if everyone is paying attention.
The learning style here is: REPEAT IN UNISON if you are paying attention.
Lessons go like this…
Today we are going to learn about Idi Amin’s regime. We are going to learn about what?
IDI AMIN’S REGIME.
Idi Amin was the leader, was what?
THE LEADER
of our country from 1971 to 1971. During his what? his rule, there was turmoil, was what?
TURMOIL
in our country. Now take your what? your notebooks, and copy these sentences from the board: Idi Amin was the leader of our country from 1971 to 1979. During his rule there was much turmoil.
And that is how they are taught, every subject. There are no open-ended queries; there is no discussion or debate, and certainly no time for student questions. And there is only one right answer, always. From the green school uniforms to the requisite shaved heads to the 48-page notebooks to the posho & beans they eat twice a day every single day, everything and everyone is exactly the same.
I want my girls to think, not copy. I want them to be unique. I want them to know that there is often more than one answer. I want them to create, to daydream. I want them to have their own beliefs. I want them to use some imagination.
But, it’s hard to use your imagination when your whole education system seems aimed at uniformity. And if no one ever tells you that you have a thing called an imagination, maybe you just don’t know it exists.
I think maybe what they need is a good art teacher.
A good what?
ART TEACHER.
posted by Jess @ 8:46 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Uh huh :)
Thanks girl,
ChiChi
haha. Jess I love you!!! That last line especially made me laugh out loud! :)
Your blog is one of many I've been reading since I was invited to Kenya next month as a PCT. I just want to say that (1) I love your writing style, and (2) when I was teaching in China, there was a similar teaching/learning style with no interaction/discussion and my group of teachers were trained to break them out of that norm and have them do skits, play games, draw and sing in order to learn. The kids loved it and really learned. I don't know if you have the option to improvise, but if you do, it does work. Anyway, you sound like you're doing great despite the obstacles!
-Jillian
I actually started teaching art with my kids in one of the schools that I work with and the kids absolutely love it. The kids here are all just taught to write off of the board and it drives me crazy as a teacher when everyone has to come up to me to prove that they have copied everything correctly. When my kids ask if they need to copy what I write I tell them that they need to copy what they think they need to know. I hope that one day they get that. But, yes, art. I think it's a great idea and that you should really think about it.
Wow, I would have a hard time with that as well. All that repetition! I hope you have some latitude and can experiment with some art and charades perhaps. Keep us updated, we love it and we love you Jess.
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