Expectations

I am very proud of my students for their communicative abilities in spoken English. Many of them went to Nambia or Zambia during the war and did their schooling there. But I am having such a hard time with their writing abilities. I think what happens a lot in education in Africa is that because of historical challenges (war, colonialism, poverty), countries here try to speed through the development process.

I think I am a writer (don’t just judge my ability with this blog for goodness sake) because of the critical thinking and writing ability I have developed since I first started reading and writing—age 4 or 5, I think. After a secondary and primary education that included very minimal writing, my students were “taught,” to different degrees, about how to write a book report in year one here at ISCED. They had other basic reporting assignments throughout the next 3 years. Then, after finishing their coursework they are expected to complete a “dissertation.” Yeah, I wrote the correct word. This work is the most detailed thing, including quantitative research and methods and analysis. In the US, we do this for a Phd. I haven’t even written a paper like this “dissertation” before, thank God. So, how I am supposed to get these learners to write this thang!!??

I don’t often believe in lowering expectations, but when you are faced with so many complications and hurdles (teacher shortages which lead to over worked teachers, no materials, little class and practice time) I really have to rethink it. When you keep the same expectations and continue to fail and regress, what has to change for it all to get better?