I have something to say...

I have something to say...

I haven't taught for a hundred years yet, but i have been in school for close to a hundred (hihihihihihhi)...and there's more to come (possibly another hundred...hihihih). I have something to say about school...well, more about schooling...

Being in school as a student and then teacher, I have observed that the more people are schooled, the less of themselves they become...the more discontented and cupid they grow...

We are taught within a system that is limiting and often inequitable.

Inequitable in the sense that it is unfair in terms of measuring ability - and ability varies greatly... {(remember the analogy of all the fish, elephant, monkey (and - let me add a bird..hihihi...to cimb a tree)}

This results in most people making a subconscious decision to be like someone else, take up their identity and make it their own. If they cannot make it to be like this someone else, life is over, and they are doomed!

In this way we fail. We fail! We fail and hardly ever recover.

This is what i am talking about:

-If you want to be a medical doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, an architect, you must score a strong A.

-If you want to be ANYTHNG ELSE, just get by and please don't fail.

(and just so you know, to all the A students, well in. To all the 'others', what can I say?...never give up?? Don't worry...you are not defined by your grades...)

With this kind of mentality, we have created Course selection sheets, for form four leavers, who sign in before they sit their final exam. The sheet clearly represents the mentality I just talked about. Students are given three choices in order of priority, and depending on their score...so we are all encouraged to play it safe, be careful lest you fail (don't get an A, that is), you could still get in to do something "reasonable". (not entirey a bad thing, but what are we teaching our children?)

Remember when you filled in your form...how many of you knew what you really wanted to pursue at the time? Like for real? (I'm sure there were some of you who did) How many of you took it seriously? I can tell you for a fact, I know many parents took these forms more seriously than the sitting candidates...calling for prayer meetings, looking for mentors for their sons and daughters, manipulating them into making the 'right' choice - mostly the one with a high status attached to it. 

We have many people, at the end of form 4 (in our 8-4-4 system), who have no idea what they want to pursue, because we are not ttaught for life in our institutions of learning...no! We are taught for exams and for big jobs, and big cars and big houses and pretty wives and kind husbands and two children and...you can add your own lessons there too...

Parents often make the choice for us...and if not, the results do. So we become passive members of society, taking in what it brings according to whose standards?...Please, do tell me....    

I haven't lived what many would call long, but I have had God's gracious portion of life so far...and there is hopefully more to come.

I have been through school...and I'm not done yet (though I just completed anouther 2 years of more schooling). I have been tempted like I know you have, to become someone else...to work hard enough and cheat well enough to pass well enough to get a good enough job to sustain me and my family (once I get there) and to mainatin a certain standard of living...

Think about this for a second or two...please do more; take some time to consider this...really...

Are you still you? Or did you change who you are to fit society's mould for you?

Are you becoming you, or still struggling to be that other someone?

Have you decided to embrace and fit into the new mould?...If you have, I can bet you it's for either of two reasons:

-You found out later in life that this is what you really want and it is really bringing the best out of you...

-You found lots of money in your miserable job/career and will struggle on - you have what society says you need - money! 

So, dear friends and strangers alike, I am still thinking about schooling...and while I'm at it, please allow me to share my thoughts with you as I go along.

By Vallerie Khamati a teacher/Communication practitioner

(to be continued in the next article coming soon......)