When I first started teaching at the school here I thought that there might be a slight disconnect between my teaching style and that of the former English teacher (who is still teaching the two classes that Colin and I are not). Well there is a huge disconnect. And it’s not just with him. The often absent director is in on the disconnect as well. Considering that the English teacher kisses the ass of the director daily, this makes for a rather powerful combo that is not very open to new ideas.
I’ll start more or less from the beginning. I knew about the French grading system coming into this year and adjusted accordingly. For those of you who don’t know, the French grade out of 20 and a perfect score is a 14, that’s almost a failing grade in the US. Colin, had some trouble with this. But within the first few weeks of the school year, he asked the director for some help in figuring it all out. The response was “oh yes of course, we can go over it, but not right now. I am busy.” About two months go by with a few reminders, but nothing ever happens. It wasn’t until after Colin turned in his class exam scores for the second testing period that anything was done to “help” him. Over half of Colin’s class had a 17, 18, or a 19 (graded on the American scale, because there was no help). Oh no no no, “the exam was too easy, you need to make it harder. You need to try and trick the children.” (That is a direct quote) The director finally did something, he responded by giving the other English teacher permission to give Colin’s class a pop exam, without telling Colin. Not only that, but Colin found out about it from his students. BIG MISTAKE. He went off on the director, politely, and almost strangled the 6’6” linebacker of an English teacher who thinks that Nowledge can only come with age (more on that later). But the exam was covering Unit 1 and 2, concepts that they haven’t covered for over a month as seeing that they were working on Unit 4. Strike 1 for the school.
The next round of testing, Colin and I both showed our exams (pre-exam time) to the director for his approval, which we had done for all of our previous exams. And we got the approval from him like he had given for all of the previous exams. I now realize that content means nothing and that all that anyone cares about is the format. You have to follow the format. Trick the children? How about trick the school, I could write anything I wanted on that exam, I could throw in some football scores, a couple of pick up lines, and maybe even a few things about my experience here and they wouldn’t notice, so long as it follows the format.
Well, Colin graded this round of exams and was asked by the LB if he could look over the scores. I guess “look over” means re-grade here. He handed them back saying that they were all finished, new grades and comments. Nope, Strike 2.
I have only just recently put together the fact that I have not been approached by anyone or anything because, 1) I was right and I do scare people – my personality fends off any potential miniscule or moderate conflict, 2) I am turning in grades according to the system, and 3) Money. What a shitty realization to come to. For the first one, if people are afraid to approach me about something they need to grow a pair. If anything they should realize that I am more wiling to learn than to teach and am always open for new ideas. Second, yes I know how to grade in the French system. You keep grading and finding miniscule things to take off from the overall score until you get an accurate representation of the class. Basically scale down the American system until you have everyone below 14/20. At least then on paper, I am right on track with all of the other previous 5e English classes. Third, the school needs help. I realize that and am trying to help financially and have asked many of you to do the same. The aid will benefit the school and help the students. But I am certain now more than ever that I will be overseeing every purchase. And everything will have an immediate effect. The director said that the school needs new books. Well Sherlock the books aren’t going to do any good sitting in your office as seeing that you took them away from all of the students who haven’t and presently can’t pay! Well they can’t or haven’t paid. Yes that is a problem, especially in the 3rd world in the countryside. FIGURE OUT A SOLUTION, it’s your freaking job! Taking the books is doing nothing more that making the teacher’s (mine and Colin’s especially) much more difficult, and you are reducing the quality of a private education hurting both the students and the name of the school. They could be getting the same quality, bookless education at a public school at a fraction of the cost.
Time for the big one, talking behind people’s backs. The other night I got into a moral/philosophical debate with some of the monks about what to do if a drunk man and his friend come to the monastery kitchen (which sells beer) and asks to buy a few drinks. Obviously there are two sides to this one, I and the more aged monk took the sure why not stance, and the other side was taken by none other than the LB and some rando from Nigeria who is (literally) as dumb as a rock. There are pros and cons to both sides that went along with a certain language barrier. The conversation fluxuated between 3 languages and the LB is only very skilled in the one that I don’t speak.
He got so frustrated with the conversation and the language barrier that at one point he made it personal. He told me that he was my superior in age and thus he was more intelligent (he must have forgotten the older monk who was arguing against him as well). He also said that I need to be educated. Along with that he said that I need to act more professionally around my students and that there are a lot of people who talk behind my back about how I walk around aimlessly and talk aimlessly around the village. Gloves came off…in my head. Immediately after that I looked at him and his massif head that probably wouldn’t fit into a helmet and walked away fuming. I found Colin. Here we go are you ready for this…
1 Age does not equal education, experience equals education (most of the time) and naturally more aged people have more experiences and thus are generally more sage. A 33 year-old LB from Ghana couldn’t come close to the amount of pure experiences I have had outside and inside the classroom, in his lifetime.
2 I am not the one who can’t speak French or English with proper grammar. The entire conversation I spoke French and he told me not to disgrace myself by doing so. The only problem with that is that he doesn’t speak American English and his vocabulary is considerably smaller than mine (not boasting, but simple living doesn’t require extensive vocabulary) Besides having a great vocabulary didn’t help the Thesaurus from avoiding extinction, extirpation, eradication… Going back, he has spent his entire life in Ghana and Togo and speaks French at the level of a child. He can’t even completely follow along in the French mass.
3. Aimlessly? Are you kidding? Have you or any of the others talking about me been with me when I visit my students or other villagers? I can’t definitely say that there was a purpose all of the time, sometimes I walk just to get away, but all of it falls into the realm of curiosity. I wasn’t born in Africa, I haven’t been here before, I know nothing about life here, I know nothing about the hardships of living in a semi-polygamous society where families need to be large in order to work the fields in the countryside’s. I have read about this stuff in books, not experienced it. So yes, sir, you’re damn right that I need to be educated in that sense, don’t spin it on me and call me a wondering fool with no aim or purpose.
What the LB said wasn’t so much a bother to me as the fact that he said it. I knew for the most part that there were some who were curious as to where I am all of the time, but the fact that they talk about it in a negative light without even asking for an explanation pisses me off. And part of it is the fact that the some of the teachers (director included) don’t respect the fact that Colin and I come from a completely different world. The are also jealous that I prefer to spend my time with my students as opposed to sit under a mango tree and get asked for money or make jokes about other people. Sorry dudes, that doesn’t interest me. And the one thing that I am afraid of is that these other teachers will take out their dislike for me on my students. That happens and Boniface is getting a call ASAP.
Time for Strike 3. I showed up to class a minute after the whistle, nothing major considering that most teachers have missed entire classes or show up in the middle of a period. Well the director was there holding one of my student’s notebooks. With a sentence from it written on the board. “He start school in 1928.” He then handed the book to me and started forcefully saying to me that this notebook was full of huge mistakes. I stood there and let him rant while thinking two things “tic-tac and good morning to you too.” It wasn’t until he left that I actually looked through the notebooks of all of my students wondering why I needed to check them. They take notes in their notebooks in my class; there homework is handed in to me separate from the notebooks as is traditional in the US grade schools. The only single part that he read was the first page from the first day of class when I had them work in their notebooks. I hade to see what level of English I was dealing with. The review of the previous book, taught by LB the year before, was a good place to start. The couldn’t do the first exercise dealing with present v. past tense verbs in simple sentences (as the sentence above shows). I found this out by walking around and seen all of the mistakes. Instead of correcting every single sentence in every workbook, I decided to start from square one. Why explain the answers if they don’t know how to get them. I created a box on the board and began to teach the past tense of verbs and how to create the words. IF the director had bothered to read a line down from the first exercise in the book he would have seen that I was in need of reteaching something that the book they are using (errr is sitting in the director’s office) assumed that they had learned something when they clearly did not. So no shit Sherlock, these kids need to be taught and their notebooks need to be checked, when and where the teacher decides. I realize the panic that must have struck him when he read that, but look beyond the surface, give the white kid a little credit and not because he is trying to help with financial aid for the school.
With all of that, Colin has decided to leave. He has the love of his life back home and prolonging the suffering of being away from each other for the purpose of teaching in a place where his ideas and styles are not wanted and where his questions only necessitate a “we’ll work on it later” response, he is finished. I have a great deal of respect for that.
And I will make sure that nothing negative is said about him here. If there is, I am out. I am committed to staying here and if anything is keeping me here it is the kids and the relationships I have with them. But I am not and will not work against a system that doesn’t want and not only that but takes destructive social measures against me. I can do it with a partner, but not solo. Not in this environment, not with my current surroundings, and not with a 6’6” LB breathing down my neck because he thinks that his way of teaching automated responses in the children is better than the “less educated” and aimless nomad of a white person.
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