January 21, 2012
I must apologize for my lengthy absence from sharing my stories. Whenever the mood has struck me to write, I haven’t, and then the reflections are lost. So what’s been missed – In-service training (two weeks of training in the capital), Christmas and New Years were spent in my village (still waiting on Christmas packages of which I’ve received: 0), and my birthday, where I learned that when it’s your birthday in Burkina Faso (I think it’s a French thing) you’re supposed to tell everyone, invite them out, and then (and here’s the kicker) pay for everything! This tradition came as quite the shock to me!
Now I find myself quite busy (in Peace Corps terms anyways). In additions to the activities I’ve previously written about, I’m tutoring three times a week, having English club twice a week, taking Lobiri language lessons twice a week, planning a soccer tournament for girls, planning and executing World AIDS day (a month and a half late), starting a girls club and writing a grant.
All of these activities bring about unique challenges and blessings, but what I’d like to focus on today are the challenges associated with tutoring. I tutor 3 levels within the equivalent of 6th grade, a low-level class for kids that have a really hard time reading (or can’t read) and have trouble with basic math, like subtraction); a low-level math class for kids needing help with basic math (we’re currently working in multiplication and division); and a mid-level reading class.
Now you may be thinking that the challenge is how to teach kids to read in French and do math in a completely different way than I was taught, but while these are certainly challenges, what has been most on my mind lately is kids dropping out of school and if and how I can help them. After the holiday break, four of my low-level students have dropped out of school. One lives in a village that is quite a distance away and is the only one from the village going to school, another has decided he doesn’t want to go anymore, another’s father decided he was done, and the fourth one I’m still trying to figure out. Obviously my first response is to get them back in school ASAP, but upon giving it more thought, I’m wondering if that’s really what’s best for them.
Let me give you a little background. All four students are on the older side for the class (14 and 15), they have all repeated this grade once already, and they are all very poor at both reading and math. By encouraging them to return to school, am I being a helpful and positive role model, or am I setting them up for failure. If I’m being honest with myself, I know that most likely none of these students will pass the grade this year. I don’t want to give up on them, but I don’t want to set them up for heartbreak either. What is right and wrong here? Is there even a right or wrong answer?
