I love watching these kids work during study hours each night. They know how to study in a way that I only dream that my American students would. They don’t just “do homework” to get it done. They study. They crowd around each other’s notebooks reviewing the day’s notes. They walk around outside reading their notes out loud to themselves. They sit alone in little corners quietly reading. And they do it with minimal adult supervision. There are adults on duty during study hours, but we’re just there to answer questions, and occasionally manage the noise level or wake up a sleepy student. But they just seem to understand that success in class requires significant work outside of class. Of course the work that they’re asked to do here is much more about memorization and regurgitation than the work that we generally ask of our kids in the States. But somehow in our efforts to structure everything so much, and hold kids accountable for every little thing, we’ve taught them that they only have to do exactly what we tell them to do, and if it’s not going to be “checked” the next day, then there must not be any work to do. I don’t have any brilliant insights on this one yet, but I’m working on it.
On the other hand … I wish the kids here had half of the critical thinking skills that my PHA kids have. In class the kids here are so good at copying notes and doing concrete tasks, but struggle so much to think outside the box or ask original questions. It’s not that they’re not capable, but they haven’t been asked to do so often enough. The oldest kids are better, because they’ve had many years of American teachers, but the younger ones’ heads explode a little when you ask them to do something that doesn’t have a right answer. Many seem scared to speak up in class for fear of being wrong or being laughed at by their peers (which happens all the time and makes me CRAZY!) I sort of miss the kids who will just say whatever they’re thinking, or play devil’s advocate or passionately defend an unpopular opinion. I guess that’s why I’m here. We’ll see if I can make any progress on that this year.
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Shifting someone's perception about what is 'right' or where knowledge comes from is a Herculean task. I actually saw great connection between your experiences of school being about memorization and picking up trash. Kids started to change their attitudes about the project when they saw what that did make a difference--the streets started staying clean. What was previously known (that all streets have trash) was challenged and found to be not true. Maybe the same work can be done with what counts as the work of the mind? If some of the kids begin to see what comes out of their own heads as valuable and valued, then more stuff might come out.
It is an absolute joy--and challenging reminder about how to live life well--to read of your adventures.
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