Sunday Night--
I thought I could will Sikkim out of the rainy season, but my powers of persuasion are clearly not up to the job. It has been raining ALL WEEK. It is a new kind of rain, but rain nonetheless. This rain includes mist that blows in early in the morning, drizzle that begins on the way to school and a steady rain that lasts until late in the evening. I don't think we saw sunshine once this past week.
I also thought I could will the washing machine to be ready to use by now. That didn't work out either. We do have a "working" dryer, but the vent lands in the middle of the bathroom which leaves even more moisture in the air, and drying hang-wrung clothes takes a REALLY LONG TIME!
I did explore a new part of the city today with our two housemates while Grace and Corrina stayed home to do homework. We visited a multi-story shopping area called Lal Market that sold everything from single cloves of garlic to underwear and bras. We also had a lovely dinner last night at a new restaurant -- it took FOREVER for the food to come out but it was tasty and we celebrated the fact that the electricity was on after a whole day of it being out at home, at Taktse and in town.
Thursday's Thoughts--
Today was a discouraging day. My new math students are impossible to control. Fortunately they only do small bad things (the 5th grade class does many worse things in their class), but at least half the students in my class are only interested in seeing what they can get away with, and they got away with a lot today:
I thought I could will Sikkim out of the rainy season, but my powers of persuasion are clearly not up to the job. It has been raining ALL WEEK. It is a new kind of rain, but rain nonetheless. This rain includes mist that blows in early in the morning, drizzle that begins on the way to school and a steady rain that lasts until late in the evening. I don't think we saw sunshine once this past week.
I also thought I could will the washing machine to be ready to use by now. That didn't work out either. We do have a "working" dryer, but the vent lands in the middle of the bathroom which leaves even more moisture in the air, and drying hang-wrung clothes takes a REALLY LONG TIME!
I did explore a new part of the city today with our two housemates while Grace and Corrina stayed home to do homework. We visited a multi-story shopping area called Lal Market that sold everything from single cloves of garlic to underwear and bras. We also had a lovely dinner last night at a new restaurant -- it took FOREVER for the food to come out but it was tasty and we celebrated the fact that the electricity was on after a whole day of it being out at home, at Taktse and in town.
Thursday's Thoughts--
Today was a discouraging day. My new math students are impossible to control. Fortunately they only do small bad things (the 5th grade class does many worse things in their class), but at least half the students in my class are only interested in seeing what they can get away with, and they got away with a lot today:
- Sneaking candy from their bags and eating it during class
- Pinching, pushing and shoving each other as they moved from the circle on the floor to their seats at the tables
- Throwing erasers across the room
- Leaning back in their chairs -- one boy had the audacity to tell me that 4 legs were on the floor, of course two of them were his....
- Talking when they were supposed to be quiet
- Shouting out answers to problems
Some of the adults acted similarly today. I had a meeting scheduled that the Admin Assistant had confirmed the previous afternoon, but the person never showed up. He had gone off-campus earlier in the day and never even bothered to call and cancel the meeting. And when he got back to school, many hours later, he made himself scarce so that I didn't see him all day.
The computer intern, a former student who is working for the school while he studies for the Science Cambridge Exam, was asked to set up a computer for the new Admin. Assistant two weeks ago. He set one up and then the monitor died. Rather than grabbing an old monitor from the storage cabinet, he kept the poor man waiting for all this time. Today I insisted that somehow he put together a computer for the assistant who desperately needs one for his work. The Business manager had located a monitor that could be borrowed until a new one was ordered, and all of a sudden the intern knew where he could find an extra monitor right away. After it was set up the Admin Asst. asked him to also hook up the printer. The intern's response was, "Oh no, that can't happen today!" I asked why and he came up with an excuse related to the fact that he didn't have the disk needed for the driver, hoping that I didn't know what he was talking about -- of course you can download a driver quite easily in 10 minutes.
It is really hard not get angry about these things -- they feel like personal affronts; and I can't see any way how to get people to change except to show them how displeased I am with them, just as I feel I must do with my students. It feels deeply rooted, learned in primary school -- it is ok to employ no self-control because it is your boss's/teacher's/parent's job to make you do it, through what techniques I know not!
Are they interested in doing good work? What are they thinking about when they make the choices they do? What need are they meeting that is hidden to me? Why did that intern not do his absolute best to get the computer for the Admin Assistant? What makes the people I now work with tick?
Interesting reflections Chris. I have to say, that post brought to light some stereotypes I held about Indians/Tibetans(I know Sikkim is in India, but I guess I think of it as in Tibet.)I guess I believed the students would be obedient and hardworking, or at least more respectful of adults than American kids. Perhaps I'm thinking of the young shaved headed monks I've seen meditating at 4am...Well, I guess those children weren't in your math class! and it seems naughtiness is more widespread than I thought!
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't so frustrating, you might be able to chuckle at the scene. You have handled some tough classroom situations before and I'm sure you will find your way. Just be gentle with yourself OK? Love ya and wish I could come and knock some sense into those brats...just kidding...
Thanks for the words of encouragement! Students at other schools and at monasteries are often kept in line through corporal punishment. The stories some of the students have told of beatings they received at other schools shocked me....
ReplyDeleteHi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI would say you are describing what I feel almost as a sense of betrayal when the motivations and goals of those around me do not align with my (sincerely invested, always forward thinking, for the greater good of all) goals. It is emotionally exhausting and unfortunately, I think, a built in side effect of caring deeply about what you do and how you conduct yourself and what you are trying to pass on to others.
I am sure your efforts will have their desired impact in the long run. Keep the faith.
Emmy
You also have to remember that you are coming into a classroom that has already had a set up, not one that you created. That is a challenge in any school and especially when there are cultural differences and unclear expectations on both sides. I'm sure over time, they will come to see the worth of your ways.
ReplyDeleteYou are asking good questions. As you understand motives more clearly you will have a better sense of how to approach them.
Keep up the efforts and keep writing about the frustrations!
Sending love and reinforcement in person very soon!
Chris, I was so heartened by the "No Cheating" post on your Humanizing Education blog... it seemed to say that Taktse had managed to counter the Us-vs-Them culture that was not just predominant, but admitted NO alternative, when I was at school in India. I thought that somehow the community-based culture had prevailed. But reading this post, which is related, I guess it probably takes more than one small school to overcome that - not surprising, since I'm sure all your kids haven't been with you since Kindergarten - a lot of them must have had other school experiences before coming to Taktse.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at school in Bombay, the cheating culture was endemic. We also took great pride in the fact that we had once made our Chemistry teacher cry. There was zero empathy with teachers – they were just the other. It was entirely Us vs. Them. It was a game: how much insolence and outright disobedience could you get away with without getting a beating, which was a hazard that carried a definite glory of its own. And the grade was all-important - nobody cared about learning. If there is a critical mass of kids at Taktse who come from this kind of school environment, you face an uphill task… they may even, in some weird way, resent the absence of corporal punishment, and see it as a reason to scorn Taktse teachers. And you are even more in this position than other Taktse teachers, as an American (hence, innocent softy… though I think we can see from your tone that you’ve caught on to that one and don’t plan to be taken for a softy!) who has to somehow establish credibility among kids who on the one hand want to lap up everything American but on the other hand don’t want to be seen to do so, because even at that age they are aware of the conflicting pulls of western pop culture vs. an assertive, third-world, push-back ethic.
If it’s any comfort, we ended up loving a young American woman who was there for a few months and who taught a folk-singing elective (picture a roomful of Indian kids singing “Red River Valley” in a weirdly southern accent) once a week, despite having made her life a misery at first.