As I sit here in the front of our large, empty laboratory, grading my Form II math exams, I begin to realize that perhaps the problem isn’t language, isn’t the lack of critical thinking, and isn’t the lack of well-qualified professional teachers — maybe the issue is that some students just don’t care.
Looking at these exams and the heartbreaking number of F’s, even 0′s, that I must give, telling myself that the students just don’t care is all I can do to keep my peace of mind. When my students don’t so much as attempt a problem, when they write half the question, then move on to write half of another question, it’s impossible for me to translate writing on paper to thoughts in the mind, to know what’s going on in their heads during an exam. After getting to know my students, the village, and the system more, I believe that I can safely say that there are a certain number of students at this school who would rather never see another chalkboard in their entire life.
The FIV graduation is coming up September 20, and it’ll be the fifth graduating class this school, and therefore the village, has seen. Before the school opened in 2004 with a small group of Form I students, any family wanting to continue their child’s education past primary school had to send him or her elsewhere for schooling. For some that meant being sent to a boarding school, which meant extra fees, for others it meant they were sent to live with a relative in another village, but for many it meant their formal education simply came to an end. A few others that remained in the village chose to attend a vocational school for carpentry, masonry, or seamstressing. The others spent their days working at home or in the family farm.
But now, with the construction of thousands of secondary schools, thanks to the Tanzanian government’s motto of quantity, quantity, quantity, most children are able to attend a secondary school within a relatively short walking distance from their home. In some cases that may mean a two or three hour walk every day, but it’s a start. Though the opportunity is there, I’ve seen that several students just don’t care about attending school, they don’t realize the value of education and neither do their parents. Their parents never went to secondary school and neither did their aunts, uncles, or older brothers and sisters. And in this area, in the Ngorongoro highlands, on the edge of the forest reserve, the trees bring cooler temperatures to protect the precious crops from drying in the ferocious equatorial sun and creates a microclimate, pouring down copius amounts of rain to nourish the land. Most years every farmer is a successful farmer and the profits made from cash crops drive the business of village shops and tea rooms, not to mention the conspicious little huts where pombe is served. Many people in the village have a reliable way of making money, regardless of their level of education. So what advantage will education give them?
The issue is one of role models. If a student sees that everyone else in the village without a secondary school education is living and breathing happily, whay should his or her future be any different? What benefit will education bring them? People are happy here, what’s the point in leaving, moving to the city, leaving the family behind? As students continue in their four years of secondary school their numbers steadily decline — currently 155 students are enrolled in Form I at my school, and that number drops to 111 for Form IV. Just last month three students in my Form II class officially dropped out of school. Some parents put up a fight, tried to convince their child to continue, but others didn’t care. For them, perhaps it was a relief to have an extra hand at home, helping with cooking, cleaning, collecting firewood, grazing the livestock, harvesting the crops. One less child in school means one more child at home, not to mention less school fees to pay. But for other parents, their lack of an education means they push the opportunity onto their children, they encourage them to study, motivate them, give them time to do schoolwork at home. I’ve talked to several parents who are enthusiastic about their child’s education, who show their concern, and even one who, upon hearing that his child had been skipping class, offered to take his place in the classroom instead. He wasn’t kidding.
The education system in Tanzania is slowly developing and indeed years go very few adults could claim to have received a secondary education. As such, many of today’s children, especially in the villages, have very few role models to look up to, people to model their lives after. There’s not much one can do about that other than to patienly watch the years go by, waiting for more and more students to slowly gain an education and to push their future children to receive an education. Role models from within and outside the village can be brought in for something like a career day at school, but those who will have the most impact are the ones who spend time with the students daily, those who are in the home.
In a few years, as more students receive an education, and they see their opportunities expanding and their standard of living improving, I believe more and more will begin to understand the value of education. Today’s students will succeed and they will fail, they will send their own children to school and they will try to teach those children not to make the same mistakes they once did. As the years go by and more generations receive an education, more people will understand the benefits of education the life of an individual, to the prosperity of a nation, and to the well-being of mankind. Today’s students will someday push their own children to study and to study hard, and will be role models in their own right. All it takes is time.
