Why am I teaching?

I had two students today. One of the remaining four has been sent home because she has still yet to pay her school fees and the other one was sick. Of the two remaining, only one has any school books and it is not even a complete set. The one without books, Pelimliwa, lost his to the director of the school due to a failure to care for the 25 year old books. Not that I disagree with the fact that the students should learn to be responsible and put new covers on the books and whatnot, but there is only so much you can do for a book that is twice your age (he’s 13). I didn’t even bother arguing it as it would have been taken as a sign of favoritism and I have enough fear over how the students will be treated after my departure. As it stands, the final English exam of the term is set for next Tuesday and will be my last day at the monastery/school. I hope that my students can surprise me considering they are getting hour long 2-on-1 lessons, but given the track record I am not holding my breath.

For that I would say that I can’t blame them. The students here are referred to as lazy by the same people who don’t show up to give classes or survey the exams. I see a certain element of laziness, sure, but I refer to it as being a kid. It is not like the kids are out playing with their tires or makeshift soccer balls every day. For most of them, their evenings are filled with chores or work in the fields/gardens. Any time left over from that can be used for studying, provided there is sufficient light or money for a flashlight or a candle. And then you’re up before the crack of dawn around 4:30 or so. Throw in the lack of money for decent school supllies, confiscated learning materials, and a lack of faith on the part of the instructors that the children are worth the effort and yeah, I could very easily see how students would fall out of favor for trying in school. On top of it they see no reason to overachieve in school, because here it rarely makes a difference. Unless you have a wealthy family or are extremely lucky or are in the top 5 percent of the university class, you’re stuck in a jobless market and turn into a drain on family resources until you can break through and find some type of work.

What does that mean for me? Well, I no longer prepare lesson plans. Not that I did a very good job of that from the getgo, but at least I gave it the good old college try back then (and to be honest, not much work is needed teaching second year English students who are on their 3rd or 4th language). Now, I plan on the fly and cater to the students who are there. Even that doesn’t help as I often find myself going over old material because half of the class wasn’t there the day before. But if I didn’t somewhat enjoy it I would have left the school long ago. And maybe, just maybe some very much needed financial aid coming in from my cousin Audrey's high school will turn the tide a little bit and start an uptrend...hopefully.