Grades

My students got their 1st Trimester grades back the other day. They weren’t too good across the board. But English was near the top of the list if not at the top for all but one student. And while they could have done better, I felt somewhat relieved seeing that something I was doing was catching on. And now that I know where the grade comes from, I know exactly how to circumvent the system. It would be doing my kids a disservice, but I could train them to ace every single exam. The only problem with that is that they wouldn’t be able to speak English once it was all said and done (a.k.a. that’s what was happening before I started teaching). Like I stated earlier, I am more interested in thinking that regurgitating. You can ask anyone who speaks English in West Africa “How are you?” and they will respond “Fine, thanks,” without fail. Fuck that man, what if you’re not feeling fine or better than fine? Language is more important than people make it out to be in this part of the world.

We are social beings, are we not? If we lose the ability to socialize in a meaningful way what does that reduce us to? My kids not only are learning how to think, they are also scoring better on the regional exams for English than they are in other subjects. Take that LB.