school

The students at the school that I am observing are SO eager to learn, explore and discover in all areas of academics.  They are talented academically, artistically, and musically.  They are inquisitive and know a surprising amount about the politics of their country.  I have been highly impressed with their knowledge and curiosity.  I have NOT been impressed, however, with the school's failure to fully foster this curiosity and knowledge.  I looked at the exams for the students and none of them involved essay questions or any kind of questions involving critical thinking.  They all involved rote memorization (useful information, but strictly memorization).

I asked the teacher of my grade seven class if I could do an activity with them, which he welcomed.  I asked the students to choose a political party of South Africa and write five good aspects and five bad aspects about that party.  At the end of the activity, the chalkboard was COVERED in ideas.  "My students did this?" the teacher asked.  "Yes," I said "they know so much about the politics of their country."  "I had no idea," he said.  How would you know if youve never allowed them the opportunity to express this knowledge?!?!?!

I was amazed at how much these 13 and 14 year olds knew about their country's politics (the only things about politics I knew in 7th grade was what I heard my parents say).  I was also amazed that they had never had the opportunity to express this knowledge.

Unfortunately students at this school seem to be viewed as young, and therefore ignorant and in need of control by adults.  Totally ridiculous.  It has been difficult for me to see such bright students "stuck" in this situation.  Yelling at and hitting students is all too common in this school, and students are clearly afraid of teachers.

There are teachers at the school who are intelligent and do a good job of teaching their students, but the culture of the school is that teachers are at the top and students are at the bottom (in all facets).  The idea of teachers learning from students would be completely foreign to and not welcomed by the faculty.  Perhaps (and hopefully) this will change over time.